It’s the birthday of one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, Saul Bellow (1915-2005), who in 1976 won the Nobel Prize for Literature and who on his deathbed asked, “Was I a man or was I a jerk?” (Spoiler alert: he was a jerk.) His novels, often set in post-WWII Chicago, were electric, [...]
It’s the birthday of the first African American author to win the Pulitzer Prize (1950), Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000). Brooks was also the first African American woman appointed to be poetry consultant (now called poet laureate) to the Library of Congress (1985-86). Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, but grew up in Chicago, with parents who [...]
It’s the birthday of poet Maxine Kumin (1925-2014, #nicelonglife), who won the Pulitzer Prize and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and who has occasionally been called “Roberta Frost” due to her poetry’s rootedness in New England. Kumin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest of four in a Jewish family, and grew up in a [...]
It’s the birthday of Richard Scarry (1919-1994), one of the most beloved children’s book authors of all time. Scarry wrote more than 250 books that were translated into dozens of languages and sold over 100 million copies; his main audience were toddlers who prudently recognized Scarry’s books as an excellent way to acquire language skills. [...]
It’s the birthday of bestselling author and comic book writer Joe Hill (b. 1972), whose horror fiction has won him a handful of Bram Stoker Awards, British Fantasy Awards, and one Ray Bradbury Fellowship. Joseph Hillstrom King was born in Hermon, Maine, to Tabitha and Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King). Growing up, Hill and [...]
It’s the birthday of prolific novelist Larry McMurtry (b. 1936), who writes mostly about the West and whose work ranges from “meh” to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Lonesome Dove (1985). McMurtry was born on a cattle ranch outside Archer City, Texas, the oldest of four, and at the age of six received a gift of 19 [...]