On this day

September 13 in literary history

Literary history for September 13: 18 writers born, 12 writers who died and 1 literary events from 1502 to 2012. Born on this day: Molly Crabapple, Tavis Smiley, Tõnu Õnnepalu.

18writers born
12writers died
1literary events

Writers born on September 13

BornWriterKnown as
1983Molly CrabappleAmerican writer and artist
1964Tavis SmileyTalk show host and author (born 1964)
1962Tõnu ÕnnepaluEstonian writer (born 1962)
1951Anne Devlin (writer)British writer
1945Noël GodinBelgian actor, critic and writer (1945–2026)
1943Mildred D. TaylorAmerican young adult novelist (born 1943)
1933Eileen FultonAmerican actress, singer and author (1933–2025)
1920Else Holmelund MinarikAmerican children's writer (1920–2012)
1917Carol Kendall (writer)American writer
1916Roald DahlBritish writer and poet (1916–1990)
1914Leonard FeatherBritish musician, producer, and writer (1914–1994)
1894J. B. PriestleyEnglish writer (1894–1984)
1894Julian TuwimPolish poet (1894–1953)
1876Sherwood AndersonAmerican writer (1876–1941)
1830Marie von Ebner-EschenbachAustrian writer (1830–1916)
1802Arnold RugeGerman political agitator and writer
1604Sir William Brereton, 1st BaronetEnglish religious Independent, author, MP and landowner (1604–1661)
1502John Leland (antiquary)English Tudor poet and antiquary

Writers who died on September 13

DiedWriterKnown as
2012Edgar MetcalfeEnglish born Australian actor, director and writer (1933–2012)
2000Betty JeffreyAustralian writer
1982Reed CrandallAmerican cartoonist (1917–1982)
1981William Loeb IIIAmerican newspaper publisher
1973Sajjad ZaheerIndian Marxist writer (1899–1973)
1944W. Heath RobinsonBritish illustrator (1872–1944)
1928Italo SvevoItalian and Austro-Hungarian businessman, playwright, and writer (1861–1928)
1912Joseph FurphyAustralian author and poet (1843–1912)
1910Rajanikanta SenBengali poet and composer (1865–1910)
1871İbrahim ŞinasiTurkish journalist, author and poet (1826–1871)
1808Saverio BettinelliItalian Jesuit writer (1718–1808)
1592Michel de MontaigneFrench author and philosopher (1533–1592)

Literary events on September 13

YearEvent
1814In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem.

Featured

Molly Crabapple (1983) — Molly Crabapple is an American visual artist and writer.

Tavis Smiley (1964) — Tavis Smiley is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles.

Tõnu Õnnepalu (1962) — Tõnu Õnnepalu, also known by the pen names Emil Tode and Anton Nigov, is an Estonian poet, author and translator.

Sources & data

  • Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.