Raleigh, Walter
(1552-1618) British writer. Sir Walter Raleigh, of Hayes Barton, Woodbury Common, was a famous explorer and soldier, as well as a poet. He published "Discovery of Guiana" in 1595.

Rand, Ayn
(1905-1982) Russian writer. Ayn Rand sold her first screenplay, "Red Pawn," to Universal Studios in 1932. Her first novel, We the Living, was completed in 1933. Other works include: The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1946).

Richardson, Samuel
(1689-1761) British writer. Samuel Richardson is famous for his novels "Pamela" (1740) and "Clarisssa" (1747-1748). There is some debate about whether he or Henry Fielding is the founder of the English novel.

Rimbaud, Arthur
(1854-1891) French writer. Arthur Rimbaud was a poet of the symbolist school and one of the most original of all French poets. He stopped writing verse at the age of 21, and became after his early death an inextricable myth in French gay life.

Rolland, Romain
(1866-1944) French writer. Romain Rolland's most famous work is "Jean Christophe," a partly autobiographical novel, which also won him the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Rosetti, Christina
(1830-1894) British writer. Christina Rosetti was sister to Dante Rosetti. She published her earliest work in 1850. Well known for "Goblin Market" and other poetry, she lived as a recluse for 15 years.

Rosetti, Dante
(1828-1882) British writer. Brother to Christina Rosetti, Dante Rosetti was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Sixteen of his sonnets were published in 1869. Other collected poems were published in 1881.

Roth, Philip
(1933- ) American writer. For his first published work, Goodbye, Columbus (1959), a collection of stories, Roth won the 1960 National Book Award in fiction. The title story of the collection was made into a motion picture in 1969.

Rowlandson, Mary
(c.1635-1678) American writer. Mary Rowlandson is famous for her "Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," which details her journey as a servant with her Native American captors.

Rushdie, Salman
(1947- ) Indian writer. Salman Rushdie is best known for his novel "The Satanic Verses" (1989). Rushdie was forced to go into hiding.

Ruskin, John
(1819-1900) British writer. John Ruskin was an artist, scientist, and poet in the Victorian period.

Sade, Marquis de
(1740-1814) French writer. Marquis de Sade is known for Story of Juliette (1797), The Bedroom Philosophers (1795), etc. His works were labeled "obscene" and banned until the 20th century.

Sand, George
(1804-1876) French writer. Pseudonym for Aurore Dupin. These pages include biographical information about this dramatic Parisian writer and thinker. French novelist of the romantic movement, whose irregular life and many love affairs shocked Parisian society.

Sappho
(c. 630BC-?) Greek writer. Find information about what we know of Sappho's life and works.

Satre, Jean-Paul
French writer. Satre was a philosopher, dramatist, and novelist.

Scott, Sir Walter
(1771-1832) Scottish writer. Sir Walter Scott was a novelist and poet, well-known for "Rob Roy" (1815), "The Black Dwarf," and other works.

Shakespeare, William
(1564-1616) British writer. Here are some useful resources about the plays, the bard himself, and his milieu.

Shaw, Bernard
(1856-1950) Irish writer. This Irish-born writer is considered the most significant British dramatist since Shakespeare. He was a playwright, essayist, political activist, lecturer, novelist, philosopher, revolutionary evolutionist, and most prolific letter writer in literary history.

Shelley, Mary
(1797-1851) British writer. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, is best known as the author of Frankenstein (1818).

Shelley, Percy New
(1792-1822) British writer. Percy Shelley is known for "A Defense of Poetry," "Ode to the West Wind," "Prometheus Unbound," and many other works during the Romantic period. He was the husband of Mary Shelley.

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
(1751-1816) Irish-born writer. Richard Sheridan was a dramatist and politician. He's famous for "School for Scandal" and other works.

Sidney, Sir Philip
(1554-1586) British writer. Scholar, diplomat, poet, courtier, soldier, and gentleman, Sidney was admired for his attainments in all of these pursuits.

Sienkiewicz, Henryk
(1846-1916) Polish writer. Henryk Sienkiewicz was awarded the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature "because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer" Probably his most widely translated work is Quo Vadis? (1896), a study of Roman society in the time of the emperor Nero.

Sinclair, Upton New
(1878-1968) American wrier. Upton Sinclair wrote more than 90 books, many of which were politically motivated. He published "The Jungle" in 1906, and it was an immediate bestseller.

Sir Gawain author
British writer. Of all the metrical romances, none approach in beauty the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a poem of the mid-14th century, one of the most exquisite pieces of medieval literature extant.

Skene, Felicia
(1821-1899) Scottish writer. Felicia Skene was a friend of Florence Nightengale (1820-1910). Her works include: "The Isles of Greece and Other Poems" (1843); "The Lesters" (1847); "Wayfaring Sketches" (1847); "The Inheritance of Evil" (1849); "Use and Abuse" (1849); "The Tutor's Ward" (1851); "The Divine Master" (1852); and other works.

Sophocles
(496 - 406? BC) Greek writer. Sophocles wrote more than 100 plays for Athenian theaters, and won approximately 24 contests. We only know of 7 plays that survive intact. Existing plays include: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Ajax, Electra, Philoctetes, and The Trachiniae.

Spenser, Edmund
(1552-1599) British writer. Edmund Spenser was the greatest nondramatic poet of the Elizabethan age. "The Shepherd's Calendar" (1579) is one of his most famous works. Probably inspired by his friend Sidney, it is a collection of twelve pastorals. "The Fairie Queen" is another of his famous epic works.

Steele, Sir Richard
(1672-1729) Irish writer. Pseudonym of ISAAC BICKERSTAFF. He was an essayist, dramatist, journalist, and politician. His works include: "The Funeral" (1701), "The Lying Lover" (1703), "The Tender Husband" (1705), and "The Conscious Lovers."

Steinbeck, John
(1902-1968) American writer. John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. He wrote "Of Mice and Men," "The Grapes of Wrath," and other works.

Sterne, Laurence
(1713-1768) British writer. Laurence Sterne wrote "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" -- a classic of the 18th century. He also wrote "Sermons of Mr. Yorick" (1760-1769), "Journal to Eliza" (1767), "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy" (1768), etc.

Stevenson, Robert Lewis (later "Louis")
(1850-1894) Scottish writer. Robert Louis Stevenson is famous for "Treasure Island and the "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." He also wrote and published travel books like "An Inland Voyage" (1878) and "Travels with a Donkey" (1879). He was a great Victorian maters of adventure and sensation fiction.

Stoker, Bram
(1845-1912) Irish/British writer. Bram Stoker is famous as the author of "Dracula."

Stowe, Harriet Beecher
(1811-1896) American writer. Best known for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin in which she expresses her moral outrage at the institution of slavery and its destructive effects on both whites and blacks.

Strindberg, August
(1849-1912) Swedish writer. August Strindberg was a playwright, novelis, and short-story writer. Strindberg wrote more than 70 plays, along with other works.

Suckling, Sir John
(1609-1642) British writer. One of the Cavalier poets, Sir John Suckling is known for such poems as: "A Ballad Upon a Wedding," "Song: I prithee spare me gentle boy," and others.

Swift, Jonathan
(1667-1745) British writer. Among English prose stylists none exceeds Jonathan Swift as a master of a perfectly clear, exact, and firm prose.

Swinburne, Algernon Charles
(1837-1909) British writer. Swinburne's reputation as a great poet rests upon a number of poems, such as Atalanta in Calydon,"Dolores" (1866), "Laus Veneris" (1866), and Tristram of Lyonesse (1882).

Turgenev, Ivan
(1818-1883) Russian writer. Ivan Turgenev was a novlist, poet, and playwright. His works include: "A Fire at Sea," "Virgin Soil," "A Sportsman's Sketches" (1852), "Rudin" (1856), and more. He left Russia after "Fathers and Sons" (1862) was published.

Tagore, Rabindranath
(1861-1941) Indian writer. He was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1915, he was knighted by the British King George V. Tagore renounced his knighthood in 1919 following the Amritsar massacre or nearly 400 Indian demonstrators.

Tarkington, Booth
An American writer, Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and educated at Purdue and Princeton universities. The Magnificent Ambersons (1918), which won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize in fiction, and Alice Adams (1921), which won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize in fiction, deal poignantly with the family life of a fading aristocracy in the early 20th century.

Tennyson, Lord Alfred
(1809-1892) British writer. Famous for poetry like In Memoriam. Appointed Poet Laureate in 1850. One of the most popular poets of the Victorian era.

Thackeray, William
(1811-1863) British writer. Known for Vanity Fair and Henry Esmond, William Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India.

Thomas, Edward New
(1878-1917) British writer. Discover Edward Thomas, a British poet killed in WWI. Like American Robert Frost, many of his poems--even those dealing with his war experiences--are based on his love of nature and his feeling for the English countryside.

Thompson, Francis
(1859-1907) British writer. Francis Thompson wrote volumes of poetry, including "The Hound of Heaven" (1893) and "Sister Songs" (1895). He also wrote literary criticism, and several prose works.

Thoreau, Henry David
(1817-1862) American writer. Although Thoreau is known today principally for the prose work in which he expounded his views as a Transcendentalist and social philosopher, he also published poetry.

Thurber, James
(1894-1961) American writer. James Thurber is known as a humorist, writer, and illustrator. His works include: "Is Sex Necessary?" (1929), "The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities" (1931), "My Life and Hard Times" (1933), "The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze" (1935), "Let Your Mind Alone!" (1937), "Fables for Our Time" (1940), and other works.

Tolkien, J.R.R.
These pages are dedicated to the language and artwork of Tolkien's Middle-earth. He's famous for "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," and other essays, books, poetry, etc.

Tolstoy, Leo
(1820-1910) Russian writer. Tolstoy was a champion of nonviolent protest. He is famous as the author of "Anna Karenina," "War and Peace," and other works.

Toomer, Jean
(1897-1967) American writer. Jean Toomer was born Nathan Pinchback Toomer in Washington D.C. He wrote short stories like "Bona and Paul" and "Withered Skin of Berries," the plays "Natalie Mann" (1922) and "Balo" (1922), and many poems such as "Five Vignettes," "Skyline," "Poem in C," "Gum," "Banking Coal," and "The First American."

Truth, Sojourner
(1797-1883) African American. Although she was illiterate, Sojourner Truth became well-known for her speaking and singing. In one famous speech she said, "Ain't I a woman." Though she didn't write down her words, others did that for her, and her words have become an important part of African American literature and history.

Twain, Mark
(1835-1910) American writer. Mark Twain once said, "To believe yourself to be brave is to be brave; it is the only essential thing." Twain is famous for "Tom Sawyer," "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and other books, along with essays, critical work, and more.