On this day
April 18 in literary history
Literary history for April 18: 21 writers born, 10 writers who died and 3 literary events from 943 to 2014. Born on this day: Eli Roth, Keith DeCandido, John Podhoretz.
Writers born on April 18
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Eli Roth | American film director and screenwriter (born 1972) |
| 1969 | Keith DeCandido | American sci-fi and fantasy writer (born 1969) |
| 1961 | John Podhoretz | American writer (born 1961) |
| 1959 | Susan Faludi | American feminist author and journalist |
| 1945 | Bernard Arcand | Canadian anthropologist and writer (1945–2009) |
| 1944 | Kathy Acker | American novelist and playwright (1947–1997) |
| 1918 | Gabriel Axel | Danish film director, actor, writer and producer |
| 1918 | Shinobu Hashimoto | Japanese screenwriter (1918–2018) |
| 1918 | Clifton Hillegass | Creator and publisher of CliffsNotes |
| 1916 | Carl Burgos | American cartoonist |
| 1915 | Joy Davidman | American poet (1915–1960) |
| 1914 | Claire Martin (writer) | Canadian writer |
| 1902 | Waldemar Hammenhög | Swedish writer |
| 1901 | Al Lewis (lyricist) | American lyricist (1901–1967) |
| 1901 | László Németh | Hungarian writer |
| 1883 | Aleksanteri Aava | Finnish poet |
| 1877 | Vicente Sotto | Filipino politician, playwright and journalist |
| 1874 | Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić | Croatian writer (1874–1938) |
| 1864 | Richard Harding Davis | American journalist, war correspondent, and fiction writer (1864–1916) |
| 1858 | Alexander Shirvanzade | Armenian playwright and novelist |
| 1580 | Thomas Middleton | English playwright and poet (1580–1627) |
Writers who died on April 18
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Sanford Jay Frank | American screenwriter |
| 2012 | K. D. Wentworth | American writer (1951–2012) |
| 1988 | Oktay Rifat | Turkish writer and playwright |
| 1974 | Marcel Pagnol | Novelist, playwright and filmmaker from France |
| 1964 | Ben Hecht | American writer, director, and producer (1894–1964) |
| 1945 | Ernie Pyle | American war correspondent and writer |
| 1864 | Juris Alunāns | Latvian writer and philologist (1832-1864) |
| 1556 | Luigi Alamanni | Italian poet and statesman (1495–1556) |
| 1552 | John Leland (antiquary) | English Tudor poet and antiquary |
| 943 | Fujiwara no Atsutada | Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (born 906) |
Literary events on April 18
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1958 | Controversial American poet Ezra Pound (pictured) was released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., in which he had been incarcerated for twelve years. |
| 1938 | Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of DC Comics, made his debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book. |
| 1857 | The Spirits Book by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France. |
Featured
Eli Roth (1972) — Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed Cabin Fever (2002) and Hostel (2005).
Keith DeCandido (1969) — Keith Robert Andreassi DeCandido is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, martial artist, and musician, who works on comic books, novels, role-playing games and video games, including numerous media tie-in books for properties such as Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Andromeda,…
John Podhoretz (1961) — John Mordecai Podhoretz is an American journalist and conservative political commentator. The son of writers Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, he has been the editor of the magazine Commentary since 2009, a post his father held for over 30 years.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.