September 22

Born:

1908 - Esphyr Slobodkina
Russian-American children's author and illustrator, best known for her classic book Caps For Sale.

1924 - Rosamunde Pilcher
British author of romance novels, known for works like The Shell Seekers.

1931 - Fay Weldon
English author who pioneered product placement in literature with her 2001 novel The Bulgari Connection.

1947 - Jo Beverley
English-Canadian writer of romance novels.

1971 - Elizabeth Bear
American author of speculative fiction.




Died:
1914 - Alain-Fournier
1958 - Mary Roberts Rinehart
2012 - Irving Adler

2022 - Hilary Mantel

September 21

Born:

1866 - H.G. Wells

English author now best known as the "Father of Science Fiction." His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

1944 - Fannie Flagg
Pen name of Patricia Neal, American actress, comedienne and author. Best known as an author for her book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

1945 - Kay Ryan
American poet, U.S. Poet Laureate from 2008-2010.









1947 - Stephen King
American author. Not sure what else I need to say about Stephen King.

1960 - Kelley Eskridge
American author of speculative fiction, non-fiction and screenplays.

1970 - Samantha Power
Irish-born American author and diplomat, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction for A Problem From Hell.




Died:
19 BC - Virgil
1832 - Sir Walter Scott
1974 - Jacqueline Susann

September 20

Born:

1878 - Upton Sinclair
American author and journalist, now most well known for his work The Jungle, which exposed terrible conditions in the meatpacking industry.

1947 - Jude Deveraux
American author of historical romances, who has had at least 36 titles on the New York Times bestseller lists.

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1948 - George R.R. Martin
American screenwriter and author of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, best known for A Song of Ice and Fire.

1951 - A.A. Attanasio
American science fiction and fantasy author.










1977 - Chris Mooney
American author and journalist who focuses on science and politics.




Died:
1863 - Jacob Grimm
1971 - Giorgos Seferis
1975 - Saint-John Perse
1985 - Helen MacInnes
1997 - Matt Christopher
2011 - Oscar Handlin

September 19

Born:

1894 - Rachel Field
American author best known for her Newbery Medal-winning Hitty, Her First Hundred Years.

1911 - William Golding
British novelist, poet and playwright, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 'for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world today." Most well known for his 1954 book Lord of the Flies.

1922 - Damon Knight
American science fiction author, mostly known for his short stories.

1947 - Thomas H. Cook
American mystery author, who won an Edgar award in 1996 for The Chatham School Affair.

1947 - Tanith Lee
British science fiction and fantasy author.

1972 - N.K. Jemison
American author of speculative fiction, most known for her Inheritance trilogy.

Died:
1949 - Will Cuppy
1985 - Italo Calvino
2009 - Milton Meltzer
2015 - Jackie Collins

September 18

Born:

1709 - Samuel Johnson
English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.

1893 - William March
American author and US Marine, known for his novel Company K.

1934 - Richard Kluger
American journalist and author, whose Ashes to Ashes won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.

1947 - Drew Gilpin Faust
American historian and first female president of Harvard. Her books have been finalists for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer.

1954 - Steven Pinker
Canadian-born experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author known for books like The Language Instinct.

1956 - Chris Hedges
American war journalist and author, whose latest book is Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.



Died:
1951 - Gelett Burgess
1980 - Katherine Ann Porter
2012 - Louis Simpson

September 17

Born:

1883 - William Carlos Williams
American poet and physician who actually wrote a book called The Great American Novel.

1908 - John Creasey
Prolific English crime and science fiction writer. Author of over 600 books using at least 28 different pseudonyms.

1909 - Elizabeth Enright
American author and illustrator of children's books, winner of a Newbery Medal for Thimble Summer.

1916 - Mary Stewart
English novelist, best known for her Merlin series of historical fantasy.

1932 - Robert B. Parker
American crime writer, most famous for his series of novels about the fictional detective Spenser.

1935 - Ken Kesey
American author who considered himself a link between the Beat generation and the 1960s hippie culture. Best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

1939 - Carl Dennis
American poet, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Practical Gods.

1947 - Gail Carson Levine
American young adult author, known for the Ella Enchanted series.

1949 - Jennifer Crusie
American author of contemporary romance novels.

Died: 

2020 -Terry Goodkind

September 16

Born:

1880 - Alfred Noyes
English poet best known for his ballads like "The Highwayman."

1888 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
Finnish writer, winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature."

1898 - H.A. Rey
Worked with his wife Margret Rey as authors and illustrators of children's books. They were best known for their Curious George series. I always had a soft spot for The Stars, though.

1926 - John Knowles
American novelist best known for his book A Separate Peace.

1935 - Jules Bass
With Arthur Rankin, Jr., the animators responsible for the classic Rankin & Bass stop-motion films. Also a children's author, notably of Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon.

1943 - James Alan McPherson
American author, first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1978 for his short story collection Elbow Room.

1954 - William Howard McKeen
American pop-culture authority.

1966 - Wil McCarthy
American science fiction novelist.

1968 - Walt Becker
American film director and author of the novel Link.

1973 - Justin Haythe
London-born American novelist, whose debut novel The Honeymoon was nominated for the 2004 Man Booker Prize.



Died:
1980 - Jean Piaget
1987 - Howard Moss
1993 - Oodferoo Noonuccal
2007 - Robert Jordan