Category Archives: Writer Birthdays

1819 – John Ruskin, English art critic of the Victorian Era, best remembered for his five-volume work, Modern Painters. 1828 – Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, playwright, and pioneer in the science-fiction genre, known for such classics as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. 1850 – KateContinue reading “February 8 Writer Birthdays”

1478 – Thomas More, English Renaissance writer and humanist who coined the term “utopia.” 1812 – Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic; one of the major novelists of the Victorian age, his works are still widely read today. 1837 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer, philologist, and primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. 1867Continue reading “February 7 Writer Birthdays”

1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet, translator, and (probably) government spy of the Elizabethan era; he is sometimes credited with authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare, but most scholars refute this. 1753 – Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny, French poet who was extremely popular during his lifetime; Pushkin once called him, “MyContinue reading “February 6 Writer Birthdays”

1813 – Jermain Wesley Loguen, American writer and abolitionist, known for The Rev. J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman, a Narrative of Real Life. 1871 – Jovan Dučić, Bosnian Serb modernist poet, political writer, and diplomat. 1893 – William Earl Johns, English pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually under theContinue reading “February 5 Writer Birthdays”

1820 – Božena Nemcová, Czech writer of the National Revival movement who wrote novels as well as books of fairy tales and legends; her image is featured on Czech banknotes. 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American aviator, military officer, author, and environmental activist who wrote The Spirit of St. Louis about making the first solo transatlanticContinue reading “February 4 Writer Birthdays”

1745 – Hannah More, popular English novelist, religious writer, poet, and playwright. 1882 – James Joyce, Irish modernist author, novelist, short-story writer, poet, and critic, known for his command of the English language and his provocatively complex works of fiction; he is considered one of the most important and influential authors of his era. 1883Continue reading “February 2 Writer Birthdays”

1884 – Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin, Russian essayist, novelist, playwright, short-story writer, and science-fiction author. 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born American novelist, nonfiction writer, journalist, and travel writer best known for the book, Mutiny on the Bounty, part of a trilogy written with co-author James Norman Hall. 1902 – Langston Hughes, African-American poet, novelist, playwright, columnist,Continue reading “February 1 Writer Birthdays”

1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, English diarist, patron of the arts, women’s rights activist, and High Sheriff 1866 – Frank Gelett Burgess, artist, art critic, poet, author, and humorist; coined the term “blurb” for a quote about a book, printed on the cover to spur sales. 1878 – A.H. Tammsaare, writer whose work is among the most importantContinue reading “January 30 Writer Birthdays”