February 19 in Literary History: Writers Born & Died

Writers born on February 19

Born	Writer	Known as
1977	Andrew Ross Sorkin	American journalist and author (born 1977)
1971	Jeff Kinney	American author (born 1971)
1966	Justine Bateman	American filmmaker and author (born 1966)
1964	Jonathan Lethem	American novelist, essayist, short story writer
1958	Helen Fielding	English novelist and screenwriter
1953	Massimo Troisi	Italian actor, film director, and poet (1953–1994)
1952	Ryū Murakami	Japanese writer and filmmaker (1952–2026)
1952	Amy Tan	American novelist (born 1952)
1949	William Messner-Loebs	American comic writer
1947	Jackie Curtis	American actor, singer, and playwright
1944	Les Hinton	British-American journalist, writer and business executive
1943	Homer Hickam	American author and engineer (born 1943)
1937	Terry Carr	American writer and editor (1937–1987)
1936	Frederick Seidel	American poet (born 1936)
1930	K. Viswanath	Indian director, screenwriter, and actor (1930–2023)
1929	Jacques Deray	French film director and screenwriter (1929–2003)
1920	C. Z. Guest	American actress, author, horsewoman, designer and socialite (1920–2003)
1920	Jaan Kross	Estonian writer (1920–2007)
1917	Carson McCullers	American writer (1917–1967)
1904	Havank	Havank, Dutch journalist and author (died 1964)
1902	Kay Boyle	American poet (1902–1992)
1888	José Eustasio Rivera	Colombian lawyer and novelist (1888-1928)
1869	Hovhannes Tumanyan	Armenian author, poet, novelist, and public activist (1869–1923)
1865	Sven Hedin	Swedish geographer, explorer, photographer, and illustrator (1865–1952)
1717	David Garrick	English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer (1716-1779)
1532	Jean-Antoine de Baïf	French poet (1532–1589)
1519	Froben Christoph of Zimmern	Froben Christoph of Zimmern, German author of the Zimmern Chronicle (died 1566)

Writers who died on February 19

Died	Writer	Known as
2016	Umberto Eco	Italian semiotician, philosopher and writer (1932–2016)
2016	Harper Lee	American novelist (1926–2016)
2016	Chiaki Morosawa	Japanese anime screenwriter
2015	Harris Wittels	American actor, comedian, writer, and musician (1984–2015)
2013	Park Chul-soo	South Korean film director, producer, screenwriter and actor
2013	Donald Richie	American writer and film historian (1924–2013)
2012	Jaroslav Velinský	Jaroslav Velinský, Czech author and songwriter (born 1932)
1952	Knut Hamsun	Norwegian novelist (1859–1952)
1951	André Gide	French author and Nobel laureate (1869–1951)
1887	Multatuli	Dutch writer (1820–187)
1837	Georg Büchner	German dramatist (1813–1837)
1806	Elizabeth Carter	English poet and polymath (1717–1806)
1716	Dorothe Engelbretsdatter	Norwegian writer
1275	Lal Shahbaz Qalandar	Sufi saint and poet (1177–1274)

Literary events on February 19

Year	Event
1963	The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique reawakens the feminist movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.
1963	Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, a non-fiction book credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States, was first published.
1949	Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
1942	A book-burning was held and politicians were arrested in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of a simulated Nazi invasion.

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Andrew Ross Sorkin (1977) — Andrew Ross Sorkin is an American journalist and author. He is a financial columnist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box. He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news service published by The New York Times.

Jeff Kinney (1971) — Jeffrey Patrick Kinney is an American author and illustrator. He is best known for creating, writing and illustrating the children's book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He also created the child-oriented website Poptropica.

Justine Bateman (1966) — Justine Bateman is an American filmmaker, author and actress. Her acting work has included Family Ties, Satisfaction, Men Behaving Badly, The TV Set, Desperate Housewives, and Californication.

February 19 in literary history

Writers born on February 19

Writers who died on February 19

Literary events on February 19

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