Category Archives: Books / Reading / Writing

1608 – John Milton, English epic poet who penned Paradise Lost. 1848 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist; collector and reteller of the African-American folktales that became known as the Uncle Remus stories. 1899 – Jean de Brunhoff, French author of children’s books, best known for creating Babar the Elephant. 1899 – Leonie Fuller, U.S. Poet Laureate.Continue reading “December 9 Writer Birthdays”

65BC – Horace, Roman satirist & lyric poet. 1832 – Björnstjerne Björnson, Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian novelist. 1862 – Georges Feydeau, Belle Epoque playwright and a forerunner of absurdist theater. 1881 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet, novelist and dramatist who was a leading figure of the Irish literary revival. 1894 – James Thurber, author, journalist and cartoonist; especially known for workContinue reading “December 8 Writer Birthdays”

1872 – Johan Huizinga, Dutch historian and linguist who is considered one of the founders of modern cultural history. 1873 – Willa Cather, American author known for her novels of frontier life, like O Pioneers! and My Ántonia. 1878 – Akiko Yosano (与謝野 晶子), the pen-name of Hô Shô, a Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist,Continue reading “December 7 Writer Birthdays”

1478 – Baldassare Castiglione (Count of Casatico), a prominent Italian Renaissance author who was also a courtier, diplomat, and soldier. 1721 – James Elphinston, Scottish philologist, orthographer, and English-language grammarian. 1884 – Cornelia Meigs, American children’s author of fiction and biography, best known for her 1933 biography of Louisa May Alcott, Invincible Louisa; in additionContinue reading “December 6 Writer Birthdays”

1830 – Christina Rossetti, English writer of romantic and children’s poems, best known for her long poem Goblin Market. 1872 – Vir Singh (Punjabi: ਭਾਈ ਵੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ), Indian poet, scholar, and theologian who was a key figure in the movement for the revival of Punjabi literary tradition. 1886 – Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist,Continue reading “December 5 Writer Birthdays”

1795 – Thomas Carlyle, Victorian-era Scottish satirical writer and historian. 1817 – Prince Nikoloz “Tato” Baratashvili (Georgian: ნიკოლოზ “ტატო” ბარათაშვილი), Georgian poet credited with combining modern nationalism with European Romanticism to introduce “Europeanism” into Georgian literature; often referred to as the “Georgian Byron.” 1822 – Frances Power Cobbe, Victorian-era Irish author, essayist, and activist whoContinue reading “December 4 Writer Birthdays”

1807 – Gamaliel Bailey, American journalist, editor, and publisher 1857 – Joseph Conrad, Polish author who wrote in English after moving to Britain and became one of the best-known authors in the English language; he is famous for such classic novels as Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. 1897 – Kate O’Brien, Irish novelist and playwright. 1914 – Alaíde Foppa de Solórzano, GuatemalanContinue reading “December 3 Writer Birthdays”

One tradition I’d started years ago on the first version of the Petrini Page is posting lists of writer birthdays. I still don’t have a list put together for every day of the year, but I’m getting close. I don’t claim that these lists are inclusive, but I am trying to post a wide varietyContinue reading “December 2 Writer Birthdays”

1083 – Anna Komnene (also spelled Comnena), a Greek princess, scholar, doctor, hospital administrator, and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium; she wrote the Alexiad, a historical account of her father’s reign. 1886 – Rex Stout, American writer of detective fiction, known for the character Nero Wolfe. 1895 – Henry Williamson, EnglishContinue reading “December 1 Writer Birthdays”