Category Archives: Writer Birthdays

1493 – Anna Bijns, Flemish writer, poet, teacher, and school administrator; she was the first author in Dutch-language literature who owed her success in part to the recently invented printing press. 1634 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish writer, philosopher, soldier, and judge who studied philosophy as a Jesuit but later turned away from religion. His treatiseContinue reading “March 4 Writer Birthdays”

1520 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian writer, historian, theologian, religious reformer, and university teacher. 1606 – Edmund Waller, English poet and member of Parliament. 1695 – María Anna Aguilar Velarde (more commonly known as Sor María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio), prolific Mexican author, theologian, nun, and abbess of the convent; she wrote on religious, mystical,Continue reading “March 3 Writer Birthdays”

1578 – George Sandys, English writer, poet, politician, translator, travel writer, explorer, and colonizer. 1651 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer, writer, and poet. 1760 – Christina Charlotta Cederström (née Mörner af Morlanda), Swedish baroness who was a writer, poet, novelist, artist, composer, and salonnière. 1800 – Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet who was lauded byContinue reading “March 2 Writer Birthdays”

1308 – Longchenpa (full name Longchen Rabjampa, Drimé Özer), Tibetan writer, educator, monk, and abbot who was a major teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism; he is considered one of the three main manifestations of Manjushri (the personification of Supreme Wisdom) to have taught in Central Tibet. His major work is the SevenContinue reading “March 1 Writer Birthdays”

1533 – Michel de Montaigne, influential French Renaissance writer and philosopher who popularized the essay as a literary genre. 1797 – Mary Lyon, U.S. educator, author, religious writer, and pioneer in the field of women’s education; she founded and served as president of Mount Holyoke College. 1814 – William Henry Giles Kingston, British writer ofContinue reading “February 28 Writer Birthdays”

1607 – Christian Keymann (also spelled Keimann), Czech-born German poet, writer, and hymnwriter. 1607 – Giovanni Francesco Loredan (or Loredano), Italian Venetian writer, novelist, essayist, history writer, librettist, editor, and politician; as founder of the Accademia degli Incogniti and a member of many other academies, he had close contact with most of the key scholarsContinue reading “February 27 Writer Birthdays”

1722 – Mary Leapor, English poet of the working class. 1802 – Victor Hugo, French poet, novelist, and playwright of the Romantic movement, best known internationally for his novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. 1808 – Elise Averdieck, German writer, nurse, social activist, and deaconess. 1818 – Katharina Prato, (Katharina Pratobevera, née Polt),Continue reading “February 26 Writer Birthdays”

1543 – Sharaf al-Din Khan (also known as Shams al-Din and Sharaf Beg Bedlisi, influential Turkish-born Kurdish emir, historian, writer, and poet who wrote exclusively in Persian and was the author of Sharafnama, one of the most important works on medieval Kurdish history; in his writing, he created a detailed picture of Kurdish life andContinue reading “February 25 Writer Birthdays”

1304 – Ibn Battuta, Moroccan Muslim Berber writer, scholar, geographer, cartographer, travel writer, 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. 1501 – Sixt Birck (also called Sixtus Birck or Xystus Betuleius),Continue 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”