May 5

Born:

1818 - Karl Marx
Prussian-German philosopher and socialist, whose best known work is The Communist Manifesto.

1846 - Henryk Sienkiewicz
Polish author; winner of the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer."

1903 - James Beard
American chef and food writer; instrumental in bringing French cooking to the country in the 1950s.

1943 - Michael Palin
English comedian and member of Monty Python enjoying a second career as a travel writer and documentarian.

1947 - Linda Fairstein
American author and controversial former prosecutor who writes the Alexandra Cooper novels.

1953 - Deborah Wiles
American children's book author, known for her Aurora County trilogy.

1963 - Scott Westerfeld
American author of young adult science fiction, known for the Uglies series.

1964 - Tom Reiss
American author whose The Black Count won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

1979 - Catherynne Valente
American author of postmodern fantasy and "mythpunk."

1986 - Robyn Schneider
American author who also writes for a younger audience as Violet Haberdasher.





Died:
1988 - Michael Shaara