On this day
January 16 in literary history
Literary history for January 16: 27 writers born, 18 writers who died and 1 literary events from 1554 to 2015. Born on this day: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rebecca Stead, Kenneth Sivertsen (musician).
27writers born
18writers died
1literary events
Writers born on January 16
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Lin-Manuel Miranda | American songwriter, actor, filmmaker and librettist (born 1980) |
| 1968 | Rebecca Stead | American writer |
| 1961 | Kenneth Sivertsen (musician) | Norwegian musician, composer, poet, and comedian |
| 1958 | Anatoli Boukreev | Kazakh mountain climber and author (1958–1997) |
| 1948 | Ruth Reichl | American chef, writer, and editor (born 1948) |
| 1947 | Laura Schlessinger | American author and radio personality (born 1947) |
| 1941 | Hyun Ki-young | South Korean writer |
| 1938 | Marina Vaizey | Anglo-American art critic, broadcaster, exhibition curator, author and journalist |
| 1933 | Susan Sontag | American writer, critic and public intellectual (1933–2004) |
| 1930 | Norman Podhoretz | American writer (1930–2025) |
| 1928 | William Kennedy (author) | American writer and journalist (born 1928) |
| 1923 | Gene Feist | Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company… |
| 1923 | Anthony Hecht | American poet (1923–2004) |
| 1918 | Nel Benschop | Dutch poet (1918–2005) |
| 1918 | Stirling Silliphant | American screenwriter (1918–1996) |
| 1909 | Clement Greenberg | American essayist and visual art critic (1909–1994) |
| 1907 | Alexander Knox | Canadian actor and writer (1907–1995) |
| 1900 | Kiku Amino | Japanese novelist |
| 1897 | Carlos Pellicer | Mexican poet (1897–1977) |
| 1895 | Nat Schachner | American writer (1895–1955) |
| 1894 | Irving Mills | American music publisher and lyricist (1894–1985) |
| 1888 | Osip Brik | Russian, writer, lawyer and literary critic |
| 1885 | Zhou Zuoren | Chinese writer |
| 1882 | Margaret Wilson (novelist) | American novelist |
| 1874 | Robert W. Service | British-Canadian poet and writer (1874–1958) |
| 1749 | Vittorio Alfieri | Italian playwright and poet (1749–1803) |
| 1634 | Dorothe Engelbretsdatter | Norwegian writer |
Writers who died on January 16
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Miriam Akavia | Polish-born Israeli writer, translator and Holocaust survivor (1927–2015) |
| 2010 | Takumi Shibano | Japanese writer (1926–2010) |
| 2009 | John Mortimer | British barrister and author (1923–2009) |
| 2001 | Auberon Waugh | British journalist and novelist (1939–2001) |
| 1996 | Marcia Davenport | American novelist (1903–1996) |
| 1996 | Kaye Webb | British editor and publisher (1914–1996) |
| 1995 | Eric Mottram | British teacher, critic, editor and poet (1924–1995) |
| 1959 | Phan Khôi | Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (born 1887) |
| 1942 | Villem Grünthal-Ridala | Estonian writer, linguist and folklorist |
| 1938 | Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay | Indian Bengali writer (1876–1938) |
| 1901 | Jules Barbier | French poet, writer and librettist (1825–1901) |
| 1901 | Mahadev Govind Ranade | Indian scholar, social reformer, judge and author (1842–1901) |
| 1879 | Octave Crémazie | Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (born 1827) |
| 1865 | Edmond François Valentin About | French writer (1828–1885) |
| 1864 | Anton Schindler | Associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven |
| 1794 | Edward Gibbon | British essayist, historian and politician (1737–1794) |
| 1747 | Barthold Heinrich Brockes | German poet (1680–1747) |
| 1554 | Christiern Pedersen | Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (born 1480) |
Literary events on January 16
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1605 | The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain. |
Featured
Lin-Manuel Miranda (1980) — Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American songwriter, actor, filmmaker, librettist, and producer. He created the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, and the soundtracks for the animated films Moana, Vivo, and Encanto.
Rebecca Stead (1968) — Rebecca Stead is an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel When You Reach Me.
Kenneth Sivertsen (musician) (1961) — Kenneth Sivertsen was a Norwegian musician, composer, poet, and comedian.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.