On this day
August 31 in literary history
Literary history for August 31: 22 writers born and 13 writers who died from 731 to 2008. Born on this day: G. Willow Wilson, Raymond P. Hammond, Rituparno Ghosh.
Writers born on August 31
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | G. Willow Wilson | American writer (born 1982) |
| 1964 | Raymond P. Hammond | American poet |
| 1963 | Rituparno Ghosh | Indian film director, actor, writer, and lyricist |
| 1953 | Marcia Clark | American prosecutor, author, television correspondent, and producer |
| 1953 | György Károly | Hungarian poet and writer |
| 1948 | Lowell Ganz | American screenwriter (born 1948) |
| 1946 | Jerome Corsi | American conservative author (born 1946) |
| 1944 | Roger Dean (artist) | English artist, designer and publisher (born 1944) |
| 1940 | Roger Newman | British-born American soap opera actor and writer (1940–2010) |
| 1936 | Vladimir Orlov (author) | Russian novelist (1936–2014) |
| 1919 | Amrita Pritam | Indian writer (1919–2005) |
| 1918 | Alan Jay Lerner | American lyricist and librettist (1918–1986) |
| 1908 | William Saroyan | American writer (1908–1981) |
| 1896 | Félix-Antoine Savard | Canadian priest, academic, poet, novelist and folklorist |
| 1894 | Albert Facey | Australian writer and World War I veteran (1894–1982) |
| 1890 | August Alle | Estonian writer and poet |
| 1885 | DuBose Heyward | American dramatist (1885–1940) |
| 1842 | Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin | African-American publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist, and editor |
| 1823 | Galusha A. Grow | American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman (1823–1907) |
| 1811 | Théophile Gautier | French poet, dramatist and novelist (1811–1872) |
| 1775 | Agnes Bulmer | English poet (1775–1836) |
| 1748 | Jean-Étienne Despréaux | Jean-Étienne Despréaux, French ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, and playwright… |
Writers who died on August 31
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ken Campbell | British actor, director and writer (1941–2008) |
| 2000 | Lucille Fletcher | American dramatist (1912–2000) |
| 1986 | Elizabeth Coatsworth | American poet |
| 1967 | Ilya Ehrenburg | Soviet writer (1891–1967) |
| 1965 | E. E. Smith | Food engineer and science-fiction author (1890–1965) |
| 1954 | Elsa Barker | American writer |
| 1941 | Marina Tsvetaeva | Russian poet (1892–1941) |
| 1869 | Mary Ward (scientist) | Anglo-Irish scientist and writer |
| 1867 | Charles Baudelaire | French poet and critic (1821–1867) |
| 1688 | John Bunyan | English writer and preacher (1628–1688) |
| 1645 | Francesco Bracciolini | Italian poet (1566–1645) |
| 1287 | Konrad von Würzburg | 13th century German poet |
| 731 | Ōtomo no Tabito | Japanese poet |
Featured
G. Willow Wilson (1982) — Gwendolyn Willow Wilson is an American comics writer, prose author, and essayist. Her work is most often categorized as magical realism.
Raymond P. Hammond (1964) — Raymond P. Hammond is an American poet, critic and editor of the New York Quarterly magazine since assuming control after the death of William Packard in 2002.
Rituparno Ghosh (1963) — Rituparno Ghosh was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his second feature film Unishe April which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.