August 16

Born:

1884 - Hugo Gernsback
Luxembourgian-American writer, editor, and magazine publisher. His contributions to the field of science fiction were so great that one of their most prestigious awards, the Hugos, are named after him.

1888 - T.E. Lawrence
More well-known as Lawrence of Arabia (which apparently must be put in bold font,) Thomas Edward also wrote of his experiences in books like Seven Pillars of Wisdom and Revolt in the Desert.

1902 - Georgette Heyer
British romance and mystery novelist, who essentially established the Regency romance genre with her novel Regency Buck.

1908 - William Keepers Maxwell, Jr.
American novelist who won the 1982 National Book Award for So Long, See You Tomorrow.

1917 - Matt Christopher
American author of sports-centric children's books.

1920 - Charles Bukowski
American author of the Dirty Realism movement and a child of Los Angeles. Immortalized in the Mickey Rourke movie Barfly, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics.

1934 - Diana Wynne Jones
British writer of fantasy novels, most well known for Howl's Moving Castle, which was made into a feature-length animated film by Hayao Miyazaki.




Died:
1949 - Margaret Mitchell
1998 - Dorothy West
2005 - William Corlett