Category Archives: Writer Birthdays

1402 – Nezahualcoyotl (meaning “Coyote who fasts”), Mexican poet, philosopher, warrior, and architect who ruled the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian era Mexico; he is best remembered for his poetry. 1541 – Mustafa Âlî (full name Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî bin Ahmed bin Abdülmevlâ Çelebi), Ottoman Turkish poet, historian, bureaucrat, and major literary figure. 1669 –Continue reading “April 28 Writer Birthdays”

1682 – Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin (Baroness Saint-Martin-de-Ré), French novelist, writer, and salonnière. 1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician who is known for his major work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, influential British author and woman’s rights pioneer who was also theContinue reading “April 27 Writer Birthdays”

0121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and influential Stoic philosopher who was the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. One of his best known books was his Meditations, written in Greek; the book has been read and admired by many world leaders and isContinue reading “April 26 Writer Birthdays”

1529 – Franciscus Patricius, Venetian writer, poet, philosopher, translator, scientist, fairy-tale writer, erotic writer, literary theorist, and university teacher of Croatian descent; he was known as a defender of Platonism and an opponent of Aristotelianism. In Croatia, he is called Franjo Petriš or Frane Petric (sometimes Petris, Petriševic, or Petricevic). 1556 – François Béroalde deContinue reading “April 25 Writer Birthdays”

1697 – Kamo no Mabuchi, Japanese poet and philologist who conducted research into the spirit of ancient Japan through his studies of the Man’yoshu and other works of ancient literature. 1703 – José Francisco de Isla, Spanish writer, poet, humorist, satirist, and theologian who was also a Jesuit priest. 1800 – Saverio Baldacchini (born FrancescoContinue reading “April 24 Writer Birthdays”

1564 – William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet, and actor widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest playwright, and is often called the Bard of Avon. (April 23 is a probable birthdate, based on his April 26 baptism.) 1852 – Edwin Markham, U.S. poet, nonfiction writer, essayist, and educatorContinue reading “April 23 Writer Birthdays”

1465 – Hieronymus Dungersheim, German writer, professor, and Catholic theologian who was an early opponent of Lutheranism. 1640 – Mariana Alcoforado, Portuguese nun and writer who is best known as the author of Letters of a Portuguese Nun, about a nun who had a scandalous affair with a French nobleman. There is some dispute overContinue reading “April 22 Writer Birthdays”

1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German knight, scholar, poet, and satirist who became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. 1755 – Maria Johanna von Aachen (born Maria Johanna Katharina Erika Elisabeth von Amboten), German Westphalian writer and poet who published under pseudonyms. 1816 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist who wrote under theContinue reading “April 21 Writer Birthdays”

0660 – Empress Genmei (Japanese: 元明天皇; she is also known as Genmei-tennō and as Empress Genmyō), Japanese poet who was the 43rd monarch of Japan and the fourth of eight women to take on the role of empress in her own right. 0834 – Yang Yunsong (Chinese: 楊筠松), Chinese Taoist writer credited with the authorshipContinue reading “April 20 Writer Birthdays”

1666 – Sarah Kemble Knight, Colonial American teacher, businesswoman, and diarist who is especially remembered for her diary of a journey from Boston to New York in 1704–1705, which provides one of the few first-hand-accounts of travel conditions in Connecticut during colonial times. 1728 – Francesco Albergati Capacelli, Italian writer, poet, politician, playwright, translator, linguist,Continue reading “April 19 Writer Birthdays”