Category Archives: Books / Reading / Writing

1304 – Ibn Battuta, Moroccan-born Muslim Berber writer, scholar, geographer, cartographer, merchant, and explorer who widely traveled the medieval world; his account of his journeys was called, A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling. 1786 – Wilhelm Carl Grimm, German author, folklorist, librarian, and literary historian whoContinue reading “February 24 Writer Birthdays”

1633 – Samuel Pepys, English diarist and member of Parliament; the detailed diary he kept during the 1660s was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important historical sources on the English Restoration period, including eyewitness accounts of such events as the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.Continue reading “February 23 Writer Birthdays”

1804 – William Whipper, American anti-slavery activist and essayist. 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet, social critic, journalist, essayist, and abolitionist. 1876 – Zitkála-Šá (Lakota: Red Bird, or Cardinal, and also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, her missionary-given and later married name), Yankton Dakota Sioux writer, editor, translator, violinist, educator, and political activist; sheContinue reading “February 22 Writer Birthdays”

1755 – Anne Grant (often called Mrs. Anne Grant of Laggan), Scottish poet and author best known for her collection of mostly biographical poems Memoirs of an American Lady as well as her earlier work Letters from the Mountains. 1817 – José Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish poet and dramatist whose work was part of theContinue reading “February 21 Writer Birthdays”

1805 – Angelina Emily Grimké, American author, pamphlet writer, lecturer, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist who grew up in a white, slave-owning family and, as a child, defied her parents by teaching slaves to read. She and her sister Sarah left South Carolina for Pennsylvania and became Quakers; they were the only prominent white SouthernContinue reading “February 20 Writer Birthdays”

1869 – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian poet, writer, translator, literary critic, journalist, and public activist who is considered the national poet of Armenia; his work was mostly realistic, focusing on everyday life. 1896 – André Robert Breton, French writer, poet, and anti-fascist who was one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. 1902 – Kay Boyle,Continue reading “February 19 Writer Birthdays”

1855 – Jean Jules Jusserand, Pulitzer Prize-winning French scholar of history and Medieval English literature, author, and Ambassador to the U.S. during World War I; Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., features a memorial to him. 1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer and philosopher, best known for his novel Zorba the Greek. 1909 – Wallace Stegner, Pulitzer Prize-winningContinue reading “February 18 Writer Birthdays”

1836 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (born Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida), Spanish Romanticist poet, short-story author, playwright, literary columnist, and artist; one of the most important figures in Spanish literature, he is considered the most-read Spanish writer after Cervantes. 1864 – Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, Australian bush poet, journalist, and author who wrote many balladsContinue reading “February 17 Writer Birthdays”

1927 – Luísa Dacosta (born Marie Louise Pinto Saraiva dos Santos), Portuguese short story writer, poet, and anthologist. 1927 – David Bryon Davis, American historian and authority on slavery and abolition in the Western world. 1927 – Shahidullah Kaiser, Bangladeshi novelist and writer. 1944 – Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, best known for hisContinue reading “February 16 Writer Birthdays”