Abe, Kobo
(1924-1993) Japanese writer. Kobo Abe has been compared to German writer Franz Kafka. He's known for Woman in the Dunes and Secret Rendezvous.

Abelard, Peter
(1079-1142) French writer. Peter Abelard (also spelled Abeillard, Abailard, etc., while the best manuscripts have Abaelardus) was born in Pallet, about ten miles east of Nantes in Brittany. He became a philosopher, theologian, and scholar, known for Historia Calamitatum ("Story of My Calamaties") and other works. In this work, he tells about his tragic love affair Heloise.

Adams, Alice
(1926-1999) American novelist, short-story writer. Superior Woman

Addams, Jane
(1860-1935) American writer. Jane Addams was active in the peace movement; she wrote extensively about social justice and other social service issues. She was an important figure of that period.  Associated with the Hull-House.  Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

Addison, Joseph
(1672-1719) British writer. Poet, essayist and playwright, Joseph Addison once said, "Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn."  Collaborated with Sir Richard Steele on many works.  Major works include Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, The Tatler, The Spectator, The Guardian, Cato: A Tragedy.

Ady, Endre
(1877-1919) Hungarian writer. Endre Ady is best-known for his love poems. In 1903, he published his first significant volume of poetry, Még egyszer. He wrote some 1,000 poems and published 10 volumes of poetry in 12 years.

Aeschylus
(525?-456 BC) Greek writer. Aeschylus was the predecessor of Sophocles and Euripides. His plays include: Agamemnon, The Choephori, Eumenides, Libation Bearers, The Persians, Prometheus Bound, The Seven Against Thebes, and The Suppliants.

Aesop
Supposedly a freed slave from Thrace, his name became attached to a collection of beast fables long transmitted through oral tradition.

Agee, James
(1909-1955) American writer. James Agee's work includes Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) and Death in the Family (which won a Pulitzer).

Agnon, Shmuel Yosef
(1888-1970) Isreali writer. Originally surnamed Czaczkes, he was born in Galicia. Shmuel Agnon was one of the greates Hebrew novelist and short-story writers. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966 with Nelly Sachs. The Jew, The Bridal Canopy, Agunot

Aiken, Conrad
(1889-1973) American writer and editor. Conrad Aiken wrote numerous novels and short stories, many of them based on psychoanalytic theory. He also wrote poetry and criticism. He was editor for Emily Dickinson's Selected Poems (1924). Great Circle, Earth Triumphant, Skepticisms, A Reviewer's ABC, Ushant, The Soldier, The Kid, "Conversation; or, Pilgrim's Progress"

Aikin, Anna Laetitia
(1743-1825) British writer. Anna Laetitia Aikin, also known by her married name, Barbauld, wrote poems about the early years of Britain's era of world power.  Sins of Government, Sins of a Nation

Akenside, Mark
(1721-1770) British writer. Mark Akenside was a poet and physician, known for The Pleasures of Imagination (1744), Odes on Various Subjects (1745) and the Epistle to Curio (1744).

Akhmatova, Anna
(1889-1966) Russian writer. One of the greatest women poets in Russian literature, Anna Akhmatova began writing at the age of 11. She writes mainly about frustrated and tragic love.  Vecher, Chyotki

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke
(1892-1927) Japanese writer. He was one of Japan's finest short story writers. Ryunosuke Akutagawa is known for Rashomon (1915) and In the Grove (1921).

Alcman
(7th century BC) Greek writer. Alcman was one of the famous lyric poets of Greece and the first known to write choral lyrics in strophic form.  Founder of Doric Lyric Poetry. 

Alcott, Louisa May
(1832-1888) American Writer. Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Louisa May Alcott is famous for the novel, Little Women. Began writing 'rubbish noverls' under the name A.N. Barnard.  Flower Fables, Work: A Story of Experience, Moods,  Little Men, Silver Pitchers and Independence, Spinning-Wheel Stories

Aldington, Richard
(1892-1962) British writer. Richard Aldington is known for being one of the first Imagist poets. He was also a novelist and literary scholar.  Des Imagistes, Death of a Hero

Aldrich, Thomas Baily
(1837-1907) American writer. Aldrich's most famous work was Story of a Bad Boy (1870), which was based on his boyhood experiences in Portsmouth.

Aleichem, Sholom
(1859-1916) Russian, Yiddish writer.  Tevye's Daughter, The Old Country

Aleixandre, Vicente
(1898-1984) Spanish poet. La destruccion o el amor, Dialogolos del conocimiento

Alfieri, Vittorio
(1749–1803) Italian writer. Vittorio Alfieri was an Italian dramatist and poet, who was one of the leading literary and patriotic figures of modern Italian history.

Alger, Horatio
(1832-1899)  American who wrote "rags-to-riches" books.

Algren, Nelson
(1909-1981) American author.  The Man with the Golden Arm, A Walk on the Wild Side

Alighieri, Dante
(1265-1321) Italian writer. Born in Florence, Dante is famous for The Divine Comedy and other works. He was active in the politics of his time. He lived in exile for the last years of his life.

Ambler, Eric
(1909-98) British suspense novelist.  A Coffin for Dimitrios

Amis, Kingsley
(1922-95) British novelist and critic.  Lucky Jim

Andersen, Hans Christian
(1805-1875) Danish writer. Anderson combined folk legends with his own great imagination and produced fairy tales appreciated in many cultures. He was trained as singer and actor before achieving success as a playwright and novelist.

Anderson, Maxwell
(1888-1959)  American playwright.  What Price Glory?, High Tor, Winterset, Key Largo

Anderson, Sherwood
(1876-1941) Anderson's talent was not widely recognized until the publication of the collection of his short stories Winesburg, Ohio (1919), which deals with the instinctive, if inarticulate, struggle of ordinary people to assert their individuality in the face of standardization imposed by the machine age.  Death in the Woods, The Triumph of the Egg, A Story Teller's Story, Dark Laughter, Beyond Desire

Andreyev, Leonid
(1871-1919) Russian writer. Andreyev was a prolific writer, producing short stories, sketches, and drams. His works include The Red Raugh (1905), The Seven Who Were Hanged (1909), etc.

Aquinas, Thomas
(1225-1274) Italian writer. Although St. Thomas lived less than fifty years, he composed more than sixty works. St. Thomas's works may be classified as philosophical, theological, scriptural, and apologetic, or controversial.

Aragon, Louis
(1897-1982) French writer. Louis Aragon was a poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a founder of Surrealism.

Aristophanes
(448?-385 BC) Greek writer. Aristophanes is considered one fo the greatest writer of comedy.   The Banqueters, The Babylonians,  The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, The Frogs, Lysistrata,  Plutus.  Only 11 of his 40 playes have survived. 

Arnold, Matthew
(1822-1888) British writer. Poet and critic who wrote the famous poem "Dover Beach.", Thrysis, Culture and Anarchy

Artaud, Antonin
(1896-1948) French writer. Artaud was a French poet, dramatist, and actor, whose theories and work influenced the development of experimental theater.

Asimov, Isaac
(1920-1992) American writer of mostly science-fiction novels.  I Robot, Fondation, Foundation and Empire, SEcond Foundation, Opus 200, Foundation and Earth

Attila, Jozsef
(1905-1937) Hungarian writer. Jozsef Attila is considered to be one of the greatest Hungarian writers of the 20th century. He's known for works including: SZÉPSÉG KOLDUSA (1922), NEM ÉN KIÁLTOK (1925), NINCSEN APÁM SE ANYÁM (1929) and more.

Aubrey, John
(1626-1697) British writer. John Aubrey is known for Lives of Eminent Men. He also wrote the Natural History of Wiltshire (ed. by John Britton, 1847) and Perambulation of Surrey, which was included in the Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey (1719).

Auden, Wystan Hugh
(1907-1973) British writer. W. H. Auden is an important literary figure in the 20th century. He's known for works: Spain (1937), New Year Letter (1941), For the Time Being, a Christmas Oratorio (1945), The Age of Anxiety (1947; Pulitzer Prize), Nones (1951), The Shield of Achilles (1955), etc.

Austen, Jane
(1775-1817) British writer. Jane Austen wrote about the British rural middle class and introduced new literary topics, such as marriage and classes. Her works include Persuasion, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park.

Bacon, Francis, Lord Verulam
(1561-1626) British writer. One of the pioneers of modern scientific thought. Bacon's writings fall into three categories: philosophical, purely literary, and professional.

Baldwin, James
(1924-1987) American writer. James Baldwin is known for Go Tell it on the Mountain, Notes of a Native Son, Nobody Knows My Name, Another Country, Just Above My Head, Blues for Mister Charlie, and The Fire Next Time.

Balzac, Honore de
(1799-1850) French writer. This prodigious French realist author is famous for his series of novels, "The Human Comedy." Le Pere Goriot, Cousine Bette, Eugenie Grandet

Barrie, James M.
(1860-1937) British playwright and novelist.  Peter Pan, Dear Brutus, What Every Woman Knows

Baudelarie, Charles
(1821-1867) French writer. One of the great poets of French literature, Baudelaire possessed a classical sense of form and great skill at choosing the perfectly appropriate word.

Baum, L. Frank
(1856-1919) American writer. Lyman Frank Baum's best-known work was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

Baum, Vicki
(1888-1960) Austrian writer. Vicki Baum was born in Vienna into a Jewish family. She's known for Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel, 1929).

Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de
(1732-99) French writer. He was a French playwright, well-known for his two comedies: Le barbier de Seville (1775) and Le mariage de Figaro (1784).

Beauvoir, Simone de
(1908-86) French novelist and essayist.  The Second Sex, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

Becke, George Lewis ("Louis")
(1855-1913) Australian writer. George Becke's work includes: By Reef and Palm (1894), The Ebbing of the Tide: South Sea Stories (1895), A First Fleet Family (1896), His Native Wife (1896) and more. In total Becke published 35 books.

Beckett, Samuel
(1906-1989) Irish novelist and playwright. plays: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, novels: Murphy, Watt, Molloy

Bede (Venerable Bede)
(673-735) British writer. Bede was a monk, historian, and scholar. He's known for his work, "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" among other writings.

Behan, Brendan
(1923-64) Irish playwright. The Quare Fellow, The Hostage, Borstal Boy

Behn, Aphra
(1640?-1689) British writer. The first woman to be a professional writer; that is, to earn her living by her pen, was Aphra Behn.

Belasco, David
(1859-1931) American writer. David Belasco was a playwright, theatrical producer and manager. Well-known works include: The Girl I Left Behind Me (1893), Heart of Maryland (1895), Zaza (1899), and Madame Butterfly (1900).

Bellows, Saul
(1915- ) American author.  Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976.  Dangling Man, The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr. Sammler's Planet, Humbolt's Gift, The Dean's December, More Die of Heartbreak

Benet, Stephen Vincent
(1898-1943) American poet and novelist.  John Brown's Body, Ballads and Poems, Thirteen O'Clock, Western Star

Bierce, Ambrose
(1842-1914) American short story writer and journalist. Ambrose Bierce is well-known for "The Devil's Dictionary," along with other ghostly tales.  In the Midst of Life, Can Such Things Be?, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians

Bishop, Elizabeth
(1911-79) American poet.  North and South--A Cold Spring

Bjornson, Bjornstjerne
(1832-1910) Norweigian writer. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903 "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit."

Blake, William
(1757-1827) British writer. Blake achieved little fame in his own lifetime, but in the 20th-century has come to be recognized as a poetic genius.  Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Blanchot, Maurice
(1907- ) Maurice Blanchot is a novelist and critic, known for works like: "Death Sentence," "The Gaze of Orpheus," "Madness of the Day," "The Step Not Beyond," and others.

Boccaccio, Giovanni
(1313-1375) Italian writer. Boccaccio's most important work is Il Decamerone (Ten Days' Work), which was begun in 1348 and completed in 1353; it was first translated into English, as The Decameron, in 1620.

Borges, Jorge Luis
(1900-86) Argentine short-story writer, poet, and essayist. Labyrinths

Boswell, James
(1740-1795) Scottish writer. James Boswell was a close friend of Samuel Johnson, known for An Account of Corsica (1768), Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) and Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).

Boulle, Pierre
(1913-94) French novelist. The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Planet of the Apes

Bradbury, Ray
(1920- ) American Author,  The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I sing the Body Electric

Bradford, William
(1590-1657) American writer. William Bradford was elected governor of Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wrote Of Plymouth Plantation in 1651.

Bradstreet, Anne
(1612-1672) American writer. "A frontier is no friendly place for literary creation; yet within a year after landing with John Winthrop in Massachusetts, America's first English poet was writing, and the fruits of her pen from the next forty odd years remain with us today," according to Jeannine Hensley, the editor of her Works. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America

Brant, Sebastian
(c. 1457-1521) German writer. Sebastian Brant was a German humanist and poet. Brant is perhaps most famous for "Narrenschiff" ("The Ship of Fools"). The poem was translated into Latin and French in 1497, and finally into English in 1570.

Brecht, Bertolt
(1891-1956) German writer. Bertolt Brecht was influenced by a wide variety of sources including Chinese, Japanese, and Indian theatre, the Elizabethans, Greek tragedy, and more. Some of his works include: Mother Courage and Her Children, Galileo, The Good Person of Szechwan, The Three Penny Opera, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Breton, Andre
(1896-1966) French writer. As a French poet and critic, Andre Breton was a leader of the surrealist movement.

Brodsky, Joseph
(1940-96) Russian-U.S. poet. A Part of Speech, Less Than One, To Urania

Brontë, Anne
(1820-1849) British writer. One of the famous Brontë sisters who is best known for her novel Agnes Grey. She defied the social constraits adn realist norms of the 19th century.

Brontë, Charlotte
(1816-1855) British writer. One of the famous Brontë sisters who is best known for her novel "Jane Eyre." She initially issued her work under a male pseudonym: Currer Bell. She defied the social constraits and realist norms of the 19th century.

Brontë, Emily
(1818-1848) British writer. One of the famous Brontë sisters who is best known for her novel Wuthering Heights. Emily was the greatest of the sisters. She initially issued her work under a male pseudonym: Acton and Ellis Bell.

Brooke, Rupert Chawner
(1887-1915) British writer. His untimely death, his great personal attraction, and the charm of his verse made him a symbol of all the gifted youth killed in that war.

Browne, Sir Thomas
(1605-1682) British writer. Sir Thomas Browne was a physician and essayist, known for Religio Medici (Religion of a Doctor, 1635), Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), Hydriotaphia: Urn-Burial, and The Garden of Cyrus (1658).

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
(1806-1861) British writer. E. B. Browning is one of the earliest female writers on the social responsibilities of the woman writer. Her verse novel, Aurora Leigh (1857), has been resurrected as a central document of Victorian feminism. Sonnets From the Portuguese

Browning, Robert
(1812-1883) British writer. He is especially noted for perfecting the dramatic monologue (literary composition in which the speaker reveals his or her character), and for being Elizabeth Barrett Browning's better half.  My Last Duchess, Fra Lippo Lippi, The Ring and the Book

Buck, Pearl S.
(1892-1973) American novelist. Nobel Prize in Lit in 1938.  The Good Earth, My Several Worlds, Imperial Woman, Command the Morning, A Bridge for Passing

Bulgakov, Mikhall
(1891-1940) Russian novelist and playwright. The Heart of a Dog, The Master and Margarita

Bunyan, John
(1628-1688) British writer. John Bunyan was a Puritan minister and writer. He's known for "The Pilgrim's Progress," an allegory. He also wrote an autobiography: "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" (1666).

Burgess, Anthony
(1917-93) British author.  A Clockwork Orange

Burke, Edmund
(1729-1797) Irish writer. One of the best-known aesthetic treatises of the century is A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757) by Edmund Burke.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson
(1849-1924) Britsh-American novelist. The Secret Garden

Burney, Fanny
(1752-1840) British writer. Fanny Burney became Madam D'Arblay when she married a refugee-nobleman from France. Her Diaries and other works give us a vivid picture of the inner life at Court.

Burns, Robert
(1759-1796) Scottish writer. Robert Burns is considered one of (if not the) greatest Scottish writer. His first volume of poetry was published in 1786. Flow Gently Sweet Afton, My Heart's in the Highlands, Auld Lang Syne

Burroughs, Edgar Rice
(1875-1950) American novelist.  Tarzan of the Apes

Burroughs, William S.
(1914-97) American novelist.  Naked Lunch, Nova Express, Cities of the Red Night

Butler, Samuel
(1835-1902) British writer. Samuel Butler wrote "The Way of All Flesh" (1874), "Life and Habit" (1878), "Evolution, Old and New" (1879), and more.

Lord Byron, George Gordon
(1788-1824) British writer. George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron was one of the English "Romantics." His works include: "Don Juan," "Manfred," "Marino Faliero," "Sardanapalus," "The Two Foscari," and "Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage." Cain

Callimachus
(c. 265 BC) Greek writer. Callimachus wrote more than 800 hymns, epigrams, and poems, along with a collection of legends.

Calvino, Italo
(1923-1985) Italian writer. Born in Cuba, of Italian parents, Calvino moved to Italy in his youth. After World War II activity as a partisan in the Italian Resistance, he settled in Turin, where he earned his degree in literature. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler