June 24

Born:

1842 - Ambrose Bierce
American journalist and writer best known for his short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

1912 - Mary Wesley
English novelist whose successes included 10 bestsellers in the last 20 years of her life.

1915 - Fred Hoyle
English astronomer and author of science fiction; coiner of the term "Big Bang."

1938 - Lawrence Block
American crime and mystery writer, both of whose main series are set in New York.

1944 - Kathryn Lasky
American author of children's and young adult fiction, including the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.

1947 - Mark Helprin
American novelist, journalist and conservative commentator.

1947 - Clarissa Dickson Wright
English television chef and author, half of the Two Fat Ladies team.

1950 - Mercedes Lackey
American fantasy author, most of whose novels and intertwining series take place on the world of Velgarth.




Died:
1909 - Sarah Orne Jewett

June 23

Born:

1894 - Alfred Kinsey
American biologist and sexologist; author of the controversial Kinsey Reports.

1928 - Michael Shaara
American author of science fiction and historical fiction who won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Killer Angels.

1936 - Richard Bach
American author best known for his 1970 bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull.





Died:
2013 - Richard Matheson 
2014 - Nancy Garden

June 22

Born:

1856 - Henry Rider Haggard
English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations.

1898 - Erich Marie Remarque
German author best known for his World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

1906 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
American author and wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh.

1947 - Octavia Butler
American science fiction author, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

1964 - Dan Brown
American author of thrillers, best known for his 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code.

1964 - Jason Goodwin
British author and historian who writes both non-fiction history and a series of mysteries.

1967 - James Forman Jr. 
American legal scholar and winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction.

1971 - Kambri Crews
American comedian whose best known work is her memoir Burn Down the Ground.

1972 - David Rees
American cartoonist and humorist whose most recent book deals with artisanal pencil sharpening.




Died:
1956 - Walter de la Mare
2002 - Anne Landers
2008 - George Carlin

June 21

Born:

1850 - Daniel Carter Beard
American author and illustrator who was active in early scouting and wrote and illustrated The American Boy's Handy Book.

1894 - Milward Kennedy
English crime writer known for his police mysteries and private investigator stories.

1898 - Donald C. Peattie
American naturalist and author of many works on botany and history.

1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher and writer; one of the key figures in the Existentialist movement.

1912 - Mary McCarthy
American author most widely known for her 1963 novel The Group.

1935 - Françoise Sagan
French author whose most well-known book, Bonjour Tristesse, was published when she was 18 years old.

1938 - John W. Dower
American author and historian whose 1999 book Embracing Defeat won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction.

1942 - Henry S. Taylor
American poet whose collection The Flying Change won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

1948 - Ian McEwan
English novelist many of whose books have been adapted into film.

1957 - Berke Breathed
American cartoonist best known for his long-running Bloom County comic strip and books.



Died:
1527 - Niccolò Machiavelli
1934 - Thorne Smith
2003 - Leon Uris
2010 - Russell Ash

June 20

Born:

1858 - Charles Chestnutt
African-American author best known for his works exploring racial identity in the South.

1910 - Josephine Johnson
American writer whose firs novel, Now in November, won the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

1912 - Anthony Buckeridge
English author known for his Jennings and Rex Milligan series of children's books.

1951 - Paul  Muldoon
Irish poet; winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

1952 - Vikram Seth
Indian novelist and poet, author of books like A Suitable Boy and The Golden Gate.

1953 - Robert Crais
American author of detective fiction, in particular his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series.

1955 - E. Lynn Harris
American author best known for his novels featuring closeted gay African-American men.



Died:
1999 - Clifton Fadiman
2005 - Larry Collins

June 19

Born:

1900 - Laura Z. Hobson
American author best known for her novel Gentleman's Agreement, which explored the problem of antisemitism in the United States.

1919 - Pauline Kael
American film critic and author who is associated with The New Yorker magazine.

1945 - Tobias Wolff
American author known for his memoirs, This Boy's Life, as well as two novels.

1947 - Salman Rushdie
British Indian author who won the 1981 Booker Prize for Midnight's Children, and sparked worldwide controversy in 1988 with The Satanic Verses.

1947 - John Ralston Saul
Canadian novelist and essayist; president of the writer's association PEN International.




Died:
1937 - J.M. Barrie
1993 - William Golding
2013 - Vince Flynn
2015 - James Salter

June 18

Born:

1946 - Russell Ash
British author of art, humor and reference titles such as The Top 10 of Everything series.

1949 - Chris Van Allsburg
American author and illustrator of children's books, two-time Caldecott Medal winner for The Polar Express and Jumanji.

1951 - Vivian Vande Velde
American author of children's and young adult fiction, winner of a 2001 Edgar award for the title Never Trust a Dead Man.

1957 - Richard Powers
American novelist of literary fiction dealing with science and technology; his book The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction and was a Pulitzer finalist.

1961 - Angela Johnson
American poet and children's book author, whose stories explore the African American experience.




Died:
1902 - Samuel Butler
1936 - Maxim Gorky
1982 - Djuna Barnes
1982 - John Cheever
1997 - Lev Kopelev
2008 - Tasha Tudor
2010 - José Saramago