February 18

Born:

1855 - Jean Jules Jusserand
French author and Ambassador to the U.S. during World War I; first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, in 1917.

1883 - Nikos Kazantzakis
Greek writer and philosopher, best known for his novel Zorba the Greek.

1909 - Wallace Stegner
American writer and environmentalist; winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for Angle of Repose.

1925 - Jack Gilbert
American poet, 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

1926 - A.R. Ammons
American poet, winner of the National Book Award in Poetry in 1973 and 1993.

1929 - Len Deighton
British novelist and cookery writer, known for The IPCRESS File.

1931 - Toni Morrison
American author, winner of both the Pulitzer and the Nobel prizes because she "in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives live to an essential aspect of American reality."

1935 - Janette Oke
Canadian author of inspirational and Christian fiction.

1936 - Jeanne Auel
American author known for her Earth's Children series of books.

1957 - George Pelecanos
American author of detective fiction, mostly set in Washington, D.C.

1961 - Douglas Rushkoff
American media theorist and writer, known for his connection with early cyberpunk culture.




Died:
1942 - Albert Payson Terhune
1971 - David M. Potter
1982 - Ngaio Marsh
2011 - Victor Martinez