May 31

Born:

1819 - Walt Whitman
American poet whose best-known collection is Leaves of Grass.

1887 - Saint-John Perse
French poet; winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize for Literature "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time."

1893 - Elizabeth Coatsworth
American author of fiction and poetry whose novel The Cat Who Went to Heaven won the 1931 Newbery Medal.

1898 - Norman Vincent Peale
Minister and author, most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking.

1947 - Phillip Hoose
American author of books for both adults and children, and who won a Newbery Honor for his children's biography of Claudette Colvin.

1948 - Svetlana Alexievich
Belarusian author, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for "her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."

1968 - John Connolly
Irish writer; author of the Charlie Parker detective series.




Died:
1963 - Edith Hamilton
1996 - Timothy Leary