On this day
May 6 in literary history
Literary history for May 6: 14 writers born, 10 writers who died and 5 literary events from 1668 to 2022. Born on this day: Roma Downey, Jeffery Deaver, Ariel Dorfman.
Writers born on May 6
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Roma Downey | Irish actress, producer and author |
| 1950 | Jeffery Deaver | American mystery and crime writer |
| 1942 | Ariel Dorfman | Argentine-Chilean writer and human rights activist (born 1942) |
| 1932 | Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath | English politician, artist, and author (1932–2020) |
| 1915 | Theodore H. White | American historian and author (1915–1986) |
| 1911 | Guy des Cars | French novelist (1911–1993) |
| 1904 | Harry Martinson | Swedish writer |
| 1897 | Paul Alverdes | German novelist and poet (1897–1979) |
| 1871 | Christian Morgenstern | German author and poet (1871–1914) |
| 1868 | Gaston Leroux | French author and journalist (1868–1927) |
| 1836 | Max Eyth | German engineer and writer |
| 1797 | Joseph Brackett | American songwriter and author (1797–1882) |
| 1713 | Charles Batteux | French philosopher and writer (1713–1780) |
| 1668 | Alain-René Lesage | French novelist |
Writers who died on May 6
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | George Pérez | American comic book artist and writer (1954–2022) |
| 2014 | Farley Mowat | Canadian writer and environmentalist (1921–2014) |
| 2012 | Jean Laplanche | French psychoanalyst, author & editor |
| 1983 | Ezra Jack Keats | American children's writer and illustrator |
| 1980 | María Luisa Bombal | Chilean novelist and poet (1910–1980) |
| 1967 | Zhou Zuoren | Chinese writer |
| 1961 | Lucian Blaga | Romanian philosopher and writer (1895–1961) |
| 1949 | Maurice Maeterlinck | Belgian playwright and essayist (1862–1949) |
| 1919 | L. Frank Baum | American author (1856–1919) |
| 1877 | Johan Ludvig Runeberg | Finnish poet (1804–1877) |
Literary events on May 6
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Time magazine published the article "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" by Richard Behar criticizing the Church of Scientology, leading to years of legal conflict. |
| 1940 | John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. |
| 1901 | The first issue of Gorkhapatra, the oldest still running state-owned Nepali newspaper, is published. |
| 1757 | English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums. |
| 1757 | English poet Christopher Smart (pictured) was admitted to St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement in mental asylums. |
Featured
Roma Downey (1960) — Roma Downey is an Irish actress, producer, and author. She gained recognition for her role as Monica the angel, in the CBS television series Touched by an Angel, which ran for nine seasons. Downey portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries A Woman Named Jackie.
Jeffery Deaver (1950) — Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery and crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a J.D. degree from Fordham University. He began his career as a journalist and later practiced law before embarking on a career as a novelist.
Ariel Dorfman (1942) — Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine and American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, since 1985.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.