On this day
October 20 in literary history
Literary history for October 20: 28 writers born, 11 writers who died and 3 literary events from 1554 to 2010. Born on this day: Dan Fogler, Aapo Ilves, Kate Mosse.
Writers born on October 20
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Dan Fogler | American actor, comedian and writer (born 1976) |
| 1970 | Aapo Ilves | Estonian writer |
| 1961 | Kate Mosse | English writer (born 1961) |
| 1959 | Mark Little (Australian actor) | Australian actor, television presenter, comedian and screen/stage writer (born 1959) |
| 1958 | Lynn Flewelling | American fantasy fiction author |
| 1955 | David Profumo | English novelist |
| 1946 | Diana Gittins | Diana Gittins, American-English sociologist, author, and academic |
| 1946 | Elfriede Jelinek | Austrian playwright and novelist |
| 1940 | Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa | Cameroonian film director and writer |
| 1940 | Robert Pinsky | American poet, literary critic, academic (born 1940) |
| 1937 | Emma Tennant | English fiction writer (1937–2017) |
| 1931 | Park Wan-suh | South Korean writer (1931–2011) |
| 1928 | Michael O'Donnell (physician) | British physician, journalist, author, and broadcaster (1928–2019) |
| 1927 | Gunturu Seshendra Sarma | Indian poet (1927–2007) |
| 1924 | Robert Peters (writer) | American poet, critic, scholar, playwright, editor and actor |
| 1923 | Robert Craft | American conductor and writer (1923–2015) |
| 1923 | Otfried Preußler | German children's author (1923–2013) |
| 1921 | Hans Warren | Dutch writer |
| 1917 | Stéphane Hessel | Writer, Holocaust survivor and French Resistance member |
| 1910 | Chen Liting | Chinese playwright and film director |
| 1895 | Morrie Ryskind | American dramatist (1895–1985) |
| 1893 | Charley Chase | American actor, comedian, director, writer (1893–1940) |
| 1891 | Samuel Flagg Bemis | American historian and biographer |
| 1873 | Nellie McClung | Canadian author, activist, suffragist and politician (1873–1951) |
| 1854 | Arthur Rimbaud | French poet (1854–1891) |
| 1822 | Thomas Hughes | English author and politician (1822–1896) |
| 1740 | Isabelle de Charrière | Dutch and Swiss writer (1740–1805) |
| 1554 | Bálint Balassi | 16th-century Hungarian poet, writer, soldier |
Writers who died on October 20
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Bob Guccione | American photographer, painter and publisher (1930–2010) |
| 2010 | Eva Ibbotson | Austro-British children's writer (1925–2010) |
| 2005 | Eva Švankmajerová | Czech artist and writer (1940–2005) |
| 2004 | Anthony Hecht | American poet (1923–2004) |
| 1983 | Yves Thériault | Canadian novelist (1915–1983) |
| 1973 | Norman Chandler | American newspaper publisher |
| 1900 | Naim Frashëri | Albanian poet, writer and activist (1846–1900) |
| 1894 | James Anthony Froude | English historian, novelist and biographer (1818–1894) |
| 1890 | Richard Francis Burton | British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890) |
| 1880 | Lydia Maria Child | American abolitionist, author, and activist (1802–1880) |
| 1652 | Antonio Coello | Spanish dramatist and poet |
Literary events on October 20
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Top Gear, the revived popular British TV motoring magazine, premieres on BBC. |
| 1969 | Experimental results from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were published showing that protons were composed of smaller particles, the first evidence of quarks. |
| 1939 | Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which critiqued ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism. |
Featured
Dan Fogler (1976) — Daniel Kevin Fogler is an American actor, comedian and writer. He had his breakout in theatre, winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as William Barfée in the Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was also his Broadway debut.
Aapo Ilves (1970) — Aapo Ilves is an Estonian poet, writer, playwright, artist and musician. He writes in Estonian, Võro and Seto languages. Ilves has also written song lyrics for other artists, including several "Hits of the Year" and also Estonian Eurovision entries "Tii" in 2004 and Kuula in 2012.
Kate Mosse (1961) — Katherine Louise Mosse is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.