Category Archives: Books / Reading / Writing

1729 – Clara Reeve, English writer, translator, and novelist best known for the Gothic novel The Old English Baron and an innovative history of prose fiction The Progress of Romance; her first work was a translation from Latin, then an unusual language for a woman to learn. 1783 – Stendahl (pen name for Marie-Henri Beyle),Continue reading “January 23 Writer Birthdays”

1561 – Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban), English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author who served as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England; he is credited with developing the scientific method, arguing for scientific knowledge based on inductive reasoning, careful observation, and a methodical approach; he has been called the father ofContinue reading “January 22 Writer Birthdays”

1895 – Davíð Stefánsson, Icelandic poet, novelist, playwright, and librarian. 1904 – Richard P. Blackmur, American poet and literary critic. 1905 – Wanda Wasilewska, Polish writer, screenwriter, politician, and journalist. 1908 – Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (commonly known as Beypore Sultan), award-winning Indian independence activist, freedom fighter, and writer of Malayalam novels and short stories; heContinue reading “January 21 Writer Birthdays”

1719 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French writer best known for his work The Travels of Anarchis the Younger in Greece. 1804 – Eugène Sue, French author whose novel Mathilde contains the first recorded use of the phrase, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” 1806 – Nathaniel Parker Willis (also known as N. P. Willis), AmericanContinue reading “January 20 Writer Birthdays”

1803 – Sarah Helen Power Whitman, American poet, essayist, transcendentalist, and Spiritualist, and a romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe. 1809 – Edgar Allen Poe, American author, poet, editor, and literary critic who was a central figure in the Romantic movement and in all of American literature and who is considered one of the country’sContinue reading “January 19 Writer Birthdays”

1779 – Peter Mark Roget, British thesaurus developer and physician. 1867 – Rubén Darío, born Félix Rubén Garcia-Sarmiento, Nicaraguan poet and short-story writer. 1882 – A.A. Milne, British playwright, screenwriter, humor writer, and children’s author, best known for his Winnie the Pooh books and other children’s poetry. 1886 – Clara Nordström, maiden name and pseudonymContinue reading “January 18 Writer Birthdays”

1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca (full name Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño!), a dramatist, poet, and writer of the Spanish Golden Age who was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest. 1814 – Ellen Wood, bestselling English novelist, better known as Mrs.Continue reading “January 17 Writer Birthdays”

Today is my teenage son’s birthday. It would be a bit of a stretch, but you could call him a published author. When he was 6, he entered a contest for Kids’ Letters to President Obama. He was one of the winners, and had his letter appear in the book of that name. If youContinue reading “January 16 Writer Birthdays”

1622 – Molière (real name Jean-Baptiste Polian), French playwright who is considered one of the masters of comedy in Western literature. 1711 – Sidonia Hedwig Zäunemann (known as die Zäunemännin), German poet who became Poet Laureate of Göttingen at the age of 24. 1850 – Mihai Eminescu (born Mihail Eminovic), Romantic poet, novelist, editor, journalist,Continue reading “January 15 Writer Birthdays”

1875 – Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Prize-winning French theologian, writer, organist, philosopher, and physician whose name has become synonymous with humanitarianism. 1882 – Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Dutch-American historian, journalist, and children’s book writer, known for his world history for children, The Story of Mankind, which 1n 1922 won the first Newbery Award. 1886 – HughContinue reading “January 14 Writer Birthdays”