On this day
January 2 in literary history
Literary history for January 2: 6 writers born, 16 writers who died and 1 literary events from 1598 to 2019. Born on this day: Évelyne Trouillot, Christopher Durang, David Shapiro (poet).
Writers born on January 2
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Évelyne Trouillot | Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author |
| 1949 | Christopher Durang | American playwright (1949–2024) |
| 1947 | David Shapiro (poet) | American poet (1947–2024) |
| 1929 | Charles Beaumont | American author (1929–1967) |
| 1870 | Ernst Barlach | German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer (1870–1938) |
| 1836 | Mendele Mocher Sforim | Belarusian-Ukrainian Jewish author |
Writers who died on January 2
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Bob Einstein | American actor and comedy writer (1942–2019) |
| 2017 | John Berger | British painter, writer and art critic (1926 - 2017) |
| 2014 | Elizabeth Jane Howard | English novelist |
| 2013 | Gerda Lerner | American historian and woman's history author (1920–2013) |
| 2013 | Teresa Torańska | Polish journalist and writer |
| 2010 | David R. Ross | Scottish author and historian (1958–2010) |
| 2009 | Inger Christensen | Danish poet, novelist, essayist, editor (1935–2009) |
| 2008 | George MacDonald Fraser | British author (1925–2008) |
| 2000 | Patrick O'Brian | English novelist (1914–2000) |
| 1999 | Sebastian Haffner | German journalist and author (1907–1999) |
| 1990 | Evangelos Averoff | Greek politician and author |
| 1989 | Safdar Hashmi | Indian political playwright and director (1954–1989) |
| 1920 | Paul Adam (French novelist) | French novelist (1862–1920) |
| 1876 | Meta Heusser-Schweizer | Swiss poet (1797–1876) |
| 1614 | Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza | 16th and 17th-century Spanish religious poet (1566–1614) |
| 1598 | Morris Kyffin | Morris Kyffin, Welsh soldier and writer (born c.1555) |
Literary events on January 2
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1921 | World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové. |
Featured
Évelyne Trouillot (1954) — Évelyne Trouillot is a Haitian author, writing in French and Creole.
Christopher Durang (1949) — Christopher Ferdinand Durang was an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
David Shapiro (poet) (1947) — David Shapiro was an American poet, literary critic, and art historian. He wrote some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of thirteen, and his first book was published when he was eighteen.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.