On this day
August 14 in literary history
Literary history for August 14: 16 writers born and 14 writers who died from 1502 to 2014. Born on this day: Peter Franzén, Gary Larson, Danielle Steel.
Writers born on August 14
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Peter Franzén | Finnish actor, author, screenwriter and director |
| 1950 | Gary Larson | American cartoonist (born 1950) |
| 1947 | Danielle Steel | American author (born 1947) |
| 1945 | Steve Martin | American comedian, actor, musician and writer (born 1945) |
| 1943 | Ben Sidran | American keyboardist, label owner, and writer |
| 1942 | Willie Dunn | Canadian politician, writer, filmmaker, and musician |
| 1932 | Lee Hoffman | American novelist |
| 1931 | Frederic Raphael | American-British writer (born 1931) |
| 1928 | Lina Wertmüller | Italian director and screenwriter (1928–2021) |
| 1926 | René Goscinny | French comic book writer (1926–1977) |
| 1925 | Russell Baker | American writer and satirist (1925–2019) |
| 1867 | John Galsworthy | English novelist and playwright (1867–1933) |
| 1863 | Ernest Thayer | American writer and poet (1863–1940) |
| 1860 | Ernest Thompson Seton | Canadian and American writer and artist (1860–1946) |
| 1802 | Letitia Elizabeth Landon | British poet and novelist (1802–1838) |
| 1502 | Pieter Coecke van Aelst | Flemish painter, sculptor, architect, author and designer (1502–1550) |
Writers who died on August 14
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Leonard Fein | American activist, writer and teacher |
| 2013 | Jack Germond | American journalist, author, and pundit |
| 2004 | Czesław Miłosz | Polish-American poet and Nobel laureate (1911–2004) |
| 1994 | Elias Canetti | German-language author (1905–1994) |
| 1994 | Alice Childress | American novelist, playwright, and actress (1916–1994) |
| 1988 | Robert Calvert | English poet, writer, musician (1945–1988) |
| 1984 | J. B. Priestley | English writer (1894–1984) |
| 1978 | Nicolas Bentley | British author and illustrator (1907–1978) |
| 1973 | Fred Gipson | American author (1908–1973) |
| 1972 | Jules Romains | French poet and writer (1885–1972) |
| 1963 | Clifford Odets | American writer and actor (1906–1963) |
| 1956 | Bertolt Brecht | German playwright and poet (1898–1956) |
| 1951 | William Randolph Hearst | American newspaper publisher (1863–1951) |
| 1928 | Klabund | Pen name of Alfred Henschke, German writer |
Featured
Peter Franzén (1971) — Peter Vilhelm Franzén is a Finnish actor, author, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as King Harald Finehair in Vikings (2016–2020).
Gary Larson (1950) — Gary Larson is an American cartoonist who created The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended on January 1, 1995, though since 2020 Larson has published additional comics online.
Danielle Steel (1947) — Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel is an American writer best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and the fourth-best-selling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold. As of 2024, she has written 210 books, including over 182 novels.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.