Category Archives: Writer Birthdays

1181 – Ibn al-Farid, Egyptian Sufi poet, writer, and philosopher who was esteemed as the greatest of all Arab mystic poets. 1554 – Catherine de Parthenay, French writer, poet, playwright, mathematician, and patron of the arts; she was considered one of the most brilliant women of her era. 1712 – Edward Moore, English dramatist andContinue reading “March 22 Writer Birthdays”

1557 – Anne Howard (Countess of Arundel, née Dacre), English poet, writer, and religious conspirator who converted to Catholicism, despite laws against it. 1831 – Dorothea Beale, British textbook writer, educator, women’s suffragist, and college president; her Textbook of General History became a popular book with teachers. 1841 – Mathilde Blind (born Mathilda Cohen), German-bornContinue reading “March 21 Writer Birthdays”

0043 BC – Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, Ancient Roman poet best known for the Metamorphoses; along with Virgil and Horace, he is regarded as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. 1612 – Anne Bradstreet (née Dudley), the most prominent early English poet in North America and the first writer inContinue reading “March 20 Writer Birthdays”

1084 – Li Qingzhao, Chinese writer, poet, essayist, artist, and lyricist; she is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history. 1503 – Benedetto Varchi, Italian humanist, historian, writer, poet, playwright, and translator; he is known for writing a 16-volume history of Florence, on a commission from Cosimo Medici I, but his Storia fiorentinaContinue reading “March 19 Writer Birthdays”

1634 – Madame de La Fayette, French writer, novelist, historian, lady-in-waiting, and correspondent; her novel La Princesse de Clèves was France’s first historical novel and one of the earliest novels in all of literature. 1652 – Anne Margrethe Qvitzow, Danish poet, writer, memoirist, and translator. 1829 – Mary Ann Harris Gay, U.S. writer and poetContinue reading “March 18 Writer Birthdays”

1078 – Abdul Qadir Gilani (known as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Ḥasanī wa’l-Ḥusaynī), Iranian-born Persian poet, jurist, mystic, preacher, and theologian. 1520 – Thoinot Arbeau (anagrammatic pen name of Jehan Tabourot), French priest who was a choreographer, music composer, and author of dance manuals; he is most famous forContinue reading “March 17 Writer Birthdays”

1657 – Susanna Elizabeth Zeidler, German Baroque poet and advocate for women’s rights, especially the right to participate in the public and literary world; her work Beglau-bigung der Jungfer Poeterey (Certification of the Maiden Poet) is considered a classic text on the defense of women’s right to authorship. 1744 – Nicolas-Germain Léonard, Guadeloupean poet, novelist,Continue reading “March 16 Writer Birthdays”

1499 – Gjon Buzuku, Albanian writer, translator, and linguist who may have been a monk and probably lived in or near Venice, Italy. 1768 – Maria Czartoryska, Polish writer, philanthropist, and princess who was also known as Duchess Maria and the Duchess Louis of Württemberg. 1778 – Pauline Fourès, French novelist, writer, painter, and musicianContinue reading “March 15 Writer Birthdays”

1664 – Silvio Stampiglia, Italian poet and opera librettist who used the pen name Palemone Licurio. 1743 – Hannah Cowley, English writer, poet, and playwright who has been called, “one of the foremost playwrights of the late eighteenth century,” and whose “skill in writing fluid, sparkling dialogue and creating sprightly, memorable comic characters compares favourablyContinue reading “March 14 Writer Birthdays”

1742 – Anne Hunter, Irish-born British poet, lyricist, and salonnière who is mostly remembered now for writing the texts to at least nine of Joseph Haydn’s 14 songs in English. 1753 – József Fabchich, Hungarian writer, translator, linguist, lexicographer, and priest known mainly for his translations of Ancient Greek poetry into the Hungarian language; heContinue reading “March 13 Writer Birthdays”