June 30

Born:

1908 - Winston Graham
English novelist, best known for his Poldark series of historical fiction.

1911 - Czesław Miłosz
Polish poet and writer, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature because he "with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts."

1934 - Harry Blackstone, Jr.
American stage and television magician, and author of books on magic.

1940 - David McPhail
American author and illustrator of children's book's. Known for his animal characters like pigs and bears.

1943 - Ahmed Sofa
Bangladeshi writer and intellectual.

1959 - Daniel Goldhagen
American author whose has written controversial books on the role of the German people during the Holocaust.





Died:
1899 - E.D.E.N. Southworth
1973 - Nancy Mitford
2003 - Robert McCloskey

June 29

Born:

 1900 - Antoine de Saint-Expury
A French writer, poet and aviator best known for his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince.)

1912 - John Toland
American author and historian best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler and his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II Japan, The Rising Sun.

1921 - Frédéric Dard
A French crime novelist, author of the San-Antonio series of mysteries.




Died:
1861 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
1990 - Irving Wallace 
2007 - Fred Saberhagen

June 28

Born:

1712 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A philosopher, writer and composer from Geneva, known for many wide-ranging works. They include Emile, Confessions, and On the Social Contract.

1867 - Luigi Pirandello
Italian writer who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage."

1891 - Esther Forbes
An American author and children's writer. Her biography of Paul Revere won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1943, but her best known work is the children's novel Johnny Tremain, set during the American Revolutionary War.

1909 - Eric Ambler
A British author of spy novels. Known for The Mask of Dimitrios (AKA A Coffin for Dimitrios), which was the basis for a few films including Topkapi and The Pink Panther.

1920 - A. E. Hotchner
American novelist and biographer, co-founder of Newman's Own foods with actor Paul Newman.

1934 - Bette Greene
American author of books for children and young adults, best known for her 1973 book Summer of My German Soldier.

1952 - Jean-Christophe Rufin
French physician and novelist; one of the founders of Doctors without Borders.

1970 - Tom Merritt
American podcaster and author of several science fiction titles.




Died:
1985 - Lynd Ward
2003 - Joan Lowery Nixon
2004 - Anthony Buckeridge

June 27

Born:

1850 - Lafcadio Hearn
Ionian-born international writer best known for his books about Japan, where he was known as Koizumi Yakumo.

1872 - Paul Lawrence Dunbar
African-American writer much of whose work was written in dialect.

1880 - Helen Keller
American author and political activist for the deaf and blind. Her early autobiography, Story of my Life, was adapted into a number of works about her.

1896 - Helen Sewell
American children's book author and illustrator whose The Thanksgiving Story was a 1955 Caldecott Honor book.

1906 - Catherine Cookson
British novelist, known for her fiction based in northeast England. She also wrote under the pen names Catherine Marchant and Katie McMullen, and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

1928 - James Lincoln Collier
American musician and author of children's book like My Brother Sam is Dead, which was a 1974 Newbery Honor book.

1929 - Peter Maas
American journalist and author of non-fiction, notably several mafia biographies.

1936 - Lucille Clifton
American poet and writer, winner of the 2000 National book award for Poetry and Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1979 to 1985.

1939 - Ivan Doig
American novelist, known for his regional historic fiction.  His Montana series, including Dancing at the Rascal Fair, are his best known works.

1949 - James P. Hogan
British author of hard science fiction.

1951 - Anita Diamant
American author who began in non-fiction, writing Guides about contemporary Jewish practice. She had a big hit with her debut novel, The Red Tent, which became a New York Times bestseller.

1953 - Alice McDermott
American author who won the National Book Award for her 1998 novel Charming Billy.

1956 - Scott Cunningham
American author of books on Wicca and alternative religions.

1971 - Jo Frost
English nanny, television personality and author of books on child rearing.




Died:
1946 - Wanda Gág
2001 - Tove Jansson
2005 - Shelby Foote
2017 - Michael Bond
2018 - Harlan Ellison

June 26

Born:

1892 - Pearl S. Buck
An American writer, known for The Good Earth, which won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. Much of her time was spent in China, where she was known as Sai Zhenzhju ( 賽珍珠)

1905 - Lynd Ward
An American artist and storyteller, known for his wordless novels illustrated with woodcuts and watercolors.Won the Caldecott Medal in 1950 and 1953 (The Biggest Bear), and also illustrated two Newbery Medal winners.

1914 - Laurie Lee
English poet and novelist whose best known work was an autobiographical trilogy.

1915 - Charlotte Zolotow
American author of children's books, mother of the author Crescent Dragonwagon.

1916 - Virginia Satir
American author and psychotherapist, know for her work in family therapy.

1922 - Walter Farley
American author, known for his Black Stallion series.

1931 - Colin Wilson
English author of both fiction and non-fiction, whose philosophical works he calls phenomenological existentialism.

1936 - Edith Pearlman
American short story writer who was a 2011 finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.

1936 - Nancy Willard
American Children's author, who won the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn.

1943 - Warren Farrell
American author of books on men's and women's issues.




Died:
1939 - Ford Madox Ford
1957 - Malcolm Lowry
2012 - Nora Ephron
2014 - Mary Rodgers

June 25

Born:

1903 - George Orwell (given name Eric Arthur Blair)
English novelist, known for Nineteen Eighty-four and Animal Farm; also some non-fiction, essays and journalism.

1910 - Elizabeth Orton Jones
American author and illustrator of children's books, whose work in Prayer for a Child won the 1945 Caldecott Medal.

1913 - P.H. Newby
English novelist who son the inaugural Booker Prize in 1969 for Something to Answer For.

1923 - Dorothy Gilman
American mystery author, known for the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries.

1923 - Nicholas Mosley
British novelist and biographer, full title Sir Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale, 7th Baronet Anclats MC.

1928 - Peyo
Pen name of Pierre Culliford, Belgian comics artis and creator of the Smurfs.

1929 - Eric Carle
Garman-American children's book author and illustrator, known for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as well as many other children's books illustrated with his collage work.

1935 - Charles Sheffield
English-born mathematician, physicist and science fiction author.

1936 - Bert Hölldobler
German sociobiologist who co-wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Ants with Edward O. Wilson.

1936 - A.J. Quinnell
Pen name of Philip Nicholson, British author whose best known work is Man on Fire.

 1956 - Anthony Bourdain
American chef and author, known for Kitchen Confidential, as well as his foodie television shows.

1961 - Ricky Gervais
English comedian who took a turn at writing children's books in the mid-2000s.

1963 - Yann Martel
Spanish-born Canadian author, known for Life of Pi, which won the Booker Prize in 2002.

1964 - Martha McPhee
American novelist and daughter of the literary journalist John McPhee.




Died:
1822 - E.T.A. Hoffman
1950 - Maurice O'Sullivan
1958 - Alfred Noyes
1997 - Jacques Cousteau