On this day
November 16 in literary history
Literary history for November 16: 24 writers born, 11 writers who died and 2 literary events from 534 to 2018. Born on this day: Ivan Baran, Craig Arnold, Tahir Shah.
24writers born
11writers died
2literary events
Writers born on November 16
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Ivan Baran | Croatian writer (born 1996) |
| 1967 | Craig Arnold | American poet and professor |
| 1966 | Tahir Shah | British author, journalist and documentary maker |
| 1964 | Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | Italian-French actress, screenwriter and film director |
| 1962 | Darwyn Cooke | Canadian cartoonist (1962–2016) |
| 1958 | Boris Krivokapić | Boris Krivokapić, Serbian author and academic |
| 1954 | Andrea Barrett | American novelist and short story writer |
| 1948 | Bonnie Greer | American-British playwright, novelist and broadcaster (1948–2026) |
| 1946 | Terence McKenna | American ethnobotanist, lecturer, and writer (1946–2000) |
| 1939 | Michael Billington (critic) | British author and arts critic (born 1939) |
| 1938 | Ahmed Bouanani | Moroccan filmmaker and author |
| 1935 | Elizabeth Drew | American political journalist and author |
| 1922 | José Saramago | Portuguese novelist (1922–2010) |
| 1915 | Jean Fritz | American children's writer (1915–2017) |
| 1912 | W. E. D. Ross | Canadian writer (1912–1995) |
| 1899 | Mary Margaret McBride | American writer and radio host (1899–1976) |
| 1896 | Joan Lindsay | Australian novelist, playwright and essayist |
| 1892 | Guo Moruo | Chinese politician, poet, and historian (1892–1978) |
| 1889 | George S. Kaufman | American playwright, theater director and producer (1889–1961) |
| 1839 | Louis-Honoré Fréchette | Canadian politician and writer (1839–1908) |
| 1807 | Jónas Hallgrímsson | Icelandic poet, author and naturalist |
| 1806 | Mary Tyler Peabody Mann | American teacher and author (1806–1887) |
| 1758 | Peter Andreas Heiberg | Danish-Norwegian author and philologist |
| 1643 | Jean Chardin | French-born English traveller and writer (1643–1713) |
Writers who died on November 16
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | William Goldman | American writer (1931–2018) |
| 2016 | Melvin Laird | American politician and writer (1922–2016) |
| 2014 | Charles Champlin | American film critic and writer (1926–2014) |
| 2014 | Jovan Ćirilov | Serbian writer and academic |
| 2013 | Charles Waterhouse (artist) | American painter, illustrator and sculptor (1924–2013) |
| 2007 | Vernon Scannell | English writer and poet |
| 1973 | Alan Watts | British and American writer and lecturer (1915–1973) |
| 1964 | Donald C. Peattie | American botanist, naturalist and author |
| 1773 | John Hawkesworth (book editor) | English writer (c. 1715 – 1773) |
| 1688 | Bengt Gottfried Forselius | Estonian writer (1660–1688) |
| 1613 | Trajano Boccalini | Trajano Boccalini, Italian author and educator (born 1556) |
Literary events on November 16
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1849 | A Russian court sentences writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor. |
| 534 | The second edition of the Code of Justinian, a codification of Roman law by Byzantine emperor Justinian I (pictured), was published. |
Featured
Ivan Baran (1996) — Ivan Baran is a Croatian writer. He is the author of epic fantasy tetralogy The Black Books Cycle and the philosophical novels Samuel Gide, Monsieur August and The Great Fall. He lives and writes in Vukovar, Croatia.
Craig Arnold (1967) — Craig Arnold was an American poet and professor. His first book of poems, Shells (1999), was selected by W. S. Merwin for the Yale Series of Younger Poets.
Tahir Shah (1966) — Tahir Shah is a British author, journalist and documentary maker of Afghan-Indian descent.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.