October 31

Born:

1795 - John Keats
English Romantic poet, considered one of the greats of English literature.

1880 - Julia Peterkin
American author, winner of the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for Scarlet Sister Mary.

1920 - Dick Francis
British jockey and crime writer, whose works focus on horse racing in England.

1925 - Lawrence A. Cremin
American historian, winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for History for American Education: The National Experience 1783-1876.

1932 - Katherine Paterson
American author of children's fiction, known for titles like Bridge to Terebithia.

1944 - Holly Hobbie
American author and illustrator of the Toot and Puddle books, as well as the series based on her.

1955 - Susan Orlean
American author and journalist, best known for her novel The Orchid Thief.

1959 - Neal Stephenson
American author of speculative fiction, known for works like Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

1964 - Frank Bruni
American journalist, restaurant critic for the New York Times from 2004 to 2009.




Died:
1931 - Octave Uzanne
1960 - H.L. Davis
1977 - C.B. Colby
2008 - Studs Terkel
2016 - Natalie Babbitt

October 30

Born:

1885 - Ezra Pound
Expatriate American poet who was a controversial figure throughout his life.

1930 - Jean Chapman
British author of romance novels.

1935 - Robert Caro
American journalist and author; winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in Biography and a National Book Award.

1946 - Eric Kimmel
American Jewish author of children's books.

1963 - Andrew Solomon
American/British writer on politics, culture and psychology.




Died:
1919 - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
1965 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr.
1968 - Conrad Richter
1987 - Joseph Campbell
2013 - Michael Palmer

October 29

Born:

1740 - James Boswell
Scottish lawyer and author, best known for his Life of  Samuel Johnson.

1899 - Kate Seredy
Hungarian-born children's author and illustrator; winner of both the Caldecott and Newbery awards.

1905 - Henry Greene
Pen name if Henry Vincent Yorke, English author best known for the novels Party Going and Loving.

1925 - Dominick Dunne
American author and journalist whose work often dealt with the upper class and the legal system.

1954 - Lee Child
Pen name of Lee Grant, a British thriller writer known for his Jack Reacher series.

1958 - David Remnick
American author and journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire.

1963 - Gerald Morris
American author known for his young adult fiction set in the Middle Ages.




Died:
1924 - Frances H. Burnett
1997 - Anton LaVey
2003 - Hal Clement

October 28

Born:

 1903 - Evelyn Waugh
English writer of novels, biography and travel books.

1904 - George Dangerfield
English-born American writer known primarily for his book The Strange Death of Liberal England.

1938 - Anne Perry 
English author of historical detective fiction, who was convicted of the murder of her friend's mother in 1954.

1951 - Joe R. Lansdale
American author and martial arts expert.




Died:
1704 - John Locke
1986 - John Braine
1998 - Ted Hughes
2014 - Galway Kinnell

October 27

Born:

1872 - Emily Post
American author famous for her books on ettiquette.

1914 - Dylan Thomas
Welsh poet and writer.

1932 - Sylvia Plath
American poet and author, the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously.

1936 - Neil Sheehan
American journalist; winner of a National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction for A Bright Shining Lie.

1940 - Maxine Hong Kingston
Chinese American author of fiction and non-fiction dealing with the lives of Chinese immigrants.

1944 - J.A. Jance
American mystery writer, whose different series of books sometimes intersect.

1966 - Steve Almond
American short story writer and essayist.

1970 - Jonathan Stroud
English young adult and fantasy writer, best known for his Bartimaeus series of books.

1973 - Anthony Doerr
American author, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for All the Light We Cannot See.





Died:
1975 - Rex Stout
1977 - James M. Cain

October 26

Born:

1940 - Andrew Niederman
American author who has been the ghost writer for V.C. Andrews since her death in 1986.

1941 - Steven Kellogg
American children's author and illustrator.

1945 - Pat Conroy
American novelist and memoirist, several of whose novels have been made into movies.

1952 - Andrew Motion
English poet and novelist, Poet Laureate of the U.K. from 1999 to 2009.

1961 - Stacy Schiff
American author; winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Vera.

1971 - Jim Butcher
American author of contemporary fantasy, best known for his series The Dresden Files.



Died:
1957 - Nikos Kazantzakis
2008 - Tony Hillerman