Russian short-story writer and memoirist Author Works Short Fiction: Vstrechnye korabli, 1929 Kara-Bugaz, 1932 (The Black Gulf, 1946) Kolkhida, 1934 Chernoe more, 1936 Severnaya povest, 1939 Dozhdlivy rassvet, 1946 Novye rasskazy, 1946 Selected Stories, 1949 The Flight of Time: New Stories, 1960 Rainy Dawn, and Other Stories, 1995 Nonfiction: Povest o zhizni, 1946-1963 (6 volumes; […]

American novelist Author Works Children’s/Young Adult Literature: Winterkill, 1976 The Foxman, 1977 The Night the White Deer Died, 1978 The Spitball Gang, 1980 Dancing Carl, 1983 Popcorn Days, 1983 Tracker, 1984 Dogsong, 1985 Sentries, 1986 The Crossing, 1987 Hatchet, 1987 The Island, 1988 The Winter Room, 1989 The Voyage of the Frog, 1989 Canyons, 1990 […]

American novelist and sociologist Identity: African descent Author Works Long Fiction: The Children of Sisyphus, 1964 An Absence of Ruins, 1967 Die the Long Day, 1972 Nonfiction: The Sociology of Slavery: An Analysis of the Origins, Development, and Structure of Negro Slave Society in Jamaica, 1967 Ethnic Chauvinism: The Reactionary Impulse, 1977 Slavery and Social […]

American playwright and screenwriter Author Works Drama: Hell Freezes Over, pr. 1935 The Story of Mary Surratt, wr. 1940, pr., pb. 1947 The Willow and I, pr. 1942 The Hasty Heart, pr., pb. 1945 The Curious Savage, pr. 1950 Lo and Behold!, pr. 1951 The Teahouse of the August Moon, pr. 1953 (adaptation of Vern […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Author Born: January 11, 1903 Birthplace: Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa Died: April 12, 1988 Place of death: Botha’s Hill, Natal, South Africa Biography Perhaps more a great humanitarian than a novelist, Alan Paton (PAT-uhn) nevertheless wrote highly acclaimed novels about racial problems in Africa. Born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, he wrote out of lifelong […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English critic and novelist Born: August 4, 1839 Birthplace: London, England Died: July 30, 1894 Place of death: Oxford, England Biography Walter Horatio Pater (PAY-tur) was born in London on August 4, 1839. Having attended King’s School in Canterbury and graduated with a BA degree from Queen’s College, Oxford, he was made Fellow […]

American novelist Biography Ann Patchett’s novels have achieved both critical and commercial success. Patchett was born in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Frank Patchett, a police captain, and Jeanne Wilkinson Ray, a nurse. Her parents divorced when she was three. Her mother moved with her and her sister to Nashville, Tennessee, when Patchett […]

Russian poet and novelist Author Works Poetry: Bliznets v tuchakh, 1914 Poverkh barierov, 1917 (Above the Barriers, 1959) Sestra moia zhizn’: Leto 1917 goda; 1922 (My Sister, Life, 1964; also known as Sister My Life) Temy i variatsii, 1923 (Themes and Variations, 1964) Vysokaya bolezn’, 1924 (High Malady, 1958) Carousel: Verse for Children, 1925 Devyatsot […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Poet Born: May 27, 1932 Birthplace: New York, New York Biography Linda Pastan has produced an important body of work that has received both critical and popular acclaim as well as numerous awards. Born Linda Olenic to Jacob L. Olenic, a surgeon, and Bess Schwartz Olenic, Pastan grew up the only surviving child […]

French philosopher Author Works Nonfiction: Lettres provinciales, 1656-1657 (The Provincial Letters, 1657) Pensées, 1670 (Monsieur Pascal’s Thoughts, Meditations, and Prayers, 1688; best known as Pensées) Biography Blaise Pascal (pahs-kahl), born on June 19, 1623, was a precocious child tutored at home in Clermont-Ferrand and later in Paris by his father. During Pascal’s boyhood his father […]

American scholar Author Works Nonfiction: Sinclair Lewis: Our Own Diogenes, 1927 Main Currents in American Thought, 1927-1930 (3 volumes) Biography Vernon Louis Parrington, after whom Parrington Hall is named at the University of Washington, was a midwesterner by birth and choice. After studying at the College of Emporia, in Emporia, Kansas, he transferred to Harvard […]

American playwright Identity: African American Author Works Drama: The Sinner’s Place, pr. 1984 Betting on the Dust Commander, pr. 1987 Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom, pr. 1989 The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, pr. 1990 Devotees in the Garden of Love, pr. 1991 The America Play, pr. 1993 […]

American photographer, director, memoirist, and poet Identity: African American Author Works Long Fiction: The Learning Tree, 1964 Shannon, 1981 Sun Stalker, 2003 Poetry: Gordon Parks: A Poet and His Camera, 1968 (poetry and photographs) In Love, 1971 Gordon Parks: Whispers of Intimate Things, 1971 (poetry and photographs) Moments Without Proper Names, 1975 (poetry and photographs) […]

American historian Author Works Nonfiction: The California and Oregon Trail, 1849 (travel) History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War After the Conquest of Canada, 1851 Pioneers of France in the New World, 1865 The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, 1867 The Discovery of the Great West, 1869 (revised as […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 American writer of screenplays, drama, short stories, and poetry Born: August 22, 1893 Birthplace: West End, New Jersey Died: June 7, 1967 Place of death: New York, New York Biography Dorothy Parker, called the wittiest woman in America during her heyday in the 1920s, was born Dorothy Rothschild in West End, New Jersey, […]

Scottish explorer and travel writer Author Works Nonfiction: Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, 1799 Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa in 1805, 1815 Biography Besides being the most famous explorer of his day, Mungo Park created a literary model for generations of European explorers in Africa. His travel writings, Travels […]

American novelist Biography Sara Paretsky (pah-REHT-skee) is credited with creating the first hard-boiled woman detective in American fiction. Born in Iowa, she moved with her family to eastern Kansas when she was very young. Growing up in the 1950’s, Paretsky confronted traditional gender roles, not only in the community but also at home. The only […]

Australian novelist, poet, and critic Author Works Long Fiction: The Man Hamilton, 1928 Men Are Human, 1930 The Passage, 1930 Daybreak, 1932 The Swayne Family, 1934 Legend for Sanderson, 1937 Cyclone, 1947 Golconda, 1948 Seedtime, 1957 The Big Fellow, 1959 Short Fiction: The World of Men, 1915 Separate Lives, 1928 Sea and Spinifex, 1934 Let […]

American short-story writer and poet Identity: Jewish Author Works Short Fiction: The Little Disturbances of Man: Stories of Men and Women in Love, 1959 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, 1974 Later the Same Day, 1985 The Collected Stories, 1994 Poetry: Leaning Forward, 1985 New and Collected Poems, 1992 Begin Again: Collected Poems, 2000 Nonfiction: […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 American essayist Born: January 29, 1737 Birthplace: Thetford, Norfolk, England Died: June 8, 1809 Place of death: New York, New York Biography Thomas Paine was the son of Frances Cocke and Joseph Paine. After grammar school, at the age of thirteen, he was apprenticed in his Quaker father’s trade as a corset maker […]

American historian Identity: Christian Author Works Nonfiction: The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon’s Commentary on John, 1973 The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters, 1975 The Gnostic Gospels, 1979 The Gnostic Jesus and Early Christian Politics, 1981 Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, 1988 The Origin of Satan, 1995 Biography The educator and […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Born: April 23, 1853 Birthplace: Hanover County, Virginia Died: November 1, 1922 Place of death: Hanover County, Virginia Biography Thomas Nelson Page was a product of the antebellum South, and the romance of the pre-Civil War period influenced all his thinking and his writing, as did the […]

American short-story writer, novelist, and essayist Identity: Jewish Author Works Short Fiction: The Pagan Rabbi, and Other Stories, 1971 Bloodshed and Three Novellas, 1976 Levitation: Five Fictions, 1982 The Shawl, 1989 The Puttermesser Papers, 1997 Long Fiction: Trust, 1966 The Cannibal Galaxy, 1983 The Messiah of Stockholm, 1987 Poetry: Epodes: First Poems, 1992 Drama: Blue […]

Israeli novelist and short-story writer Identity: Jewish Author Works Long Fiction: Ma’kom a’her, 1966 (Elsewhere, Perhaps, 1973) Mikha’el sheli, 1968 (My Michael, 1972) Laga ‘at ba-mayim, laga ‘at baruah, 1973 (Touch the Water, Touch the Wind, 1974) Menuhah nekhonah, 1982 (A Perfect Peace, 1985) Kufsah shehorah, 1987 (Black Box, 1988) La-da’at ishah, 1989 (To Know […]

American playwright and poet Author Works Drama: Futz, pb. 1961, revised pb. 1968 (music by Tom O’Horgan) The String Game, pr. 1965 Istanboul, pr. 1965 Homo, pr. 1966 Beclch, pr. 1966 Farmer’s Almanac, pr. 1968 Futz and What Came After, pb. 1968 (includes Beclch, Homo, The String Game, and Istanboul) The Queen of Greece, pr. […]

American novelist and critic Identity: American Indian (Choctaw, Cherokee) Author Works Long Fiction: Wolfsong, 1991 The Sharpest Sight, 1992 Bone Game, 1994 Nightland, 1996, Dark River, 1999 Nonfiction: John Steinbeck’s Re-Vision of America, 1985 American Indian Novelists: An Annotated Bibliography, 1985 (with Tom Colonnese) The Grapes of Wrath: Trouble in the Promised Land, 1989 Other […]

English poet Biography Wilfred Owen was born and raised in the Shropshire countryside made famous by another poet, A. E. Housman. After Owen was born in Oswestry, his family moved to Shrewsbury for a year and then to Birkenhead, near Liverpool, where in 1900 he entered school. In 1911 he matriculated at London University. According […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Roman poet Born: March 20, 43 b.c.e. Birthplace: Sulmo, Roman Empire (now Sulmona, Italy) Died: 17 c.e. Place of death: Tomis on the Black Sea, Moesia (now Constanţa, Romania) Biography Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, was born in the Italian Apennines, northeast of Rome, in the last year of the Republic. He […]

English novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Held in Bondage: Or, Granville de Vigne, 1863 Strathmore, 1865 Chandos, 1866 Tricotrin, 1866 Idalia, 1867 Under Two Flags, 1867 Folle-Farine, 1871 Pascarel, 1873 Two Little Wooden Shoes, 1874 Signa, 1875 Ariadne, 1877 Moths, 1880 A Village Commune, 1881 In Maremma, 1882 Othmar, 1885 The Tower of Taddeo, 1892 […]

English playwright Author Works Drama: Alcibiades, pr., pb. 1675 Don Carlos, Prince of Spain, pr., pb. 1676 Titus and Berenice, pr. 1676 (adaptation of Jean Racine’s play Bérénice) The Cheats of Scapin, pr. 1676 (adaptation of Molière’s play Les Fourberies de Scapin) Friendship in Fashion, pr., pb. 1678 The History and Fall of Caius Marius, […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: How to Make an American Quilt, 1991 Now You See Her, 1994 The Passion Dream Book, 1997 A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity, 2002 Biography Whitney Otto is known as a writer of novels that are innovative both in structure and in language. She was […]

English playwright and screenwriter Author Works Drama: Look Back in Anger, pr. 1956 The Entertainer, pr., pb. 1957 (music by John Addison) Epitaph for George Dillon, pr., pb. 1958 (with Anthony Creighton) The World of Paul Slickey, pr., pb. 1959 (music by Christopher Whelen) Luther, pr., pb. 1961 Plays for England: The Blood of the […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 British novelist and essayist Born: June 25, 1903 Birthplace: Motihari, Bengal, India Died: January 21, 1950 Place of death: London, England Biography George Orwell, with an international reputation based on his two finest works, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, has emerged as a prominent prose stylist and perhaps the twentieth century’s most important […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English playwright Born: January 1, 1933 Birthplace: Leicester, England Died: August 9, 1967 Place of death: Islington, London, England Biography John Kingsley Orton, who adopted the name Joe, wrote most of his plays in a frenzy of creative activity between 1963 and 1967. Three of these—Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Loot, and What the Butler […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Writer of prose, poetry, and drama Born: February 24, 1952 Birthplace: Hormigueros, Puerto Rico Died: December 30, 2016 Place of death: Louisville, Georgia Biography Born in Hormigueros, near Mayagüez in southwest Puerto Rico, Judith Ortiz Cofer (ohr-TEEZ CO-fur) spent part of every year in Paterson, New Jersey, as she was growing up. Her […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Acoma Pueblo poet, fiction writer, and scholar Born: May 27, 1941 Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico Biography Simon Joseph Ortiz is a native of the Acoma Pueblos and was raised bilingual in Acoma and English. He grew up in Deetseyaamah, a rural village of the Acoma Pueblo community, a place also called McCartys, New […]

Spanish philosopher Author Works Nonfiction: Meditaciones del Quijote, 1914 (Meditations on Quixote, 1961) España invertebrada, 1922 (Invertebrate Spain, 1937) El tema de nuestro tiempo, 1923 (The Modern Theme, 1931) La deshumanización del arte, 1925 (The Dehumanization of Art, 1948) La rebelión de las masas, 1929 (The Revolt of the Masses, 1932) Misión de la universidad, […]

American poet Author Works Poetry: Discrete Series, 1934 The Materials, 1962 This in Which, 1965 Of Being Numerous, 1968 Alpine, 1969 Seascape: Needle’s Eye, 1972 The Collected Poems of George Oppen, 1975 Primitive, 1978 New Collected Poems, 2002 Nonfiction: The Selected Letters of George Oppen, 1990 Biography George Oppen (AHP-uhn) was one of the principal […]

English short-story writer and novelist Author Works Short Fiction: Tales from a Far Riding, 1902 Back o’the Moon, and Other Stories, 1906 Widdershins, 1911 Ghosts in Daylight, 1924 The Painted Face, 1929 The Collected Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions, 1935 The Italian Chest, and Other Stories, 1939 The Collected Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions, 1971 […]

American literary theorist Identity: Catholic Author Works Nonfiction: Frontiers in American Catholicism: Essays on Ideology and Culture, 1957 Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason, 1958 Ramus and Talon Inventory, 1958 American Catholic Crossroads: Religious-Secular Encounters in the Modern World, 1959 The Barbarian Within, and […]

Uruguayan novelist and short-story writer Biography Juan Carlos Onetti (oh-NEHT-tee) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1909, the second of three children. He grew up in a stable, middle-class family, and he remembered his childhood as a happy one. His father, Carlos Onetti, was a customs official, and his mother, Borges de Onetti, was a […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Playwright Born: October 16, 1888 Birthplace: New York, New York Died: November 27, 1953 Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts Biography The American playwright Eugene Gladstone O’Neill is often regarded as the most important twentieth century writer for the theater. He was the son of the popular melodramatic actor James O’Neill and his wife, […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Sri Lankan–born Canadian novelist, poet, and scholar Born: September 12, 1943 Birthplace: Colombo, Ceylon (now in Sri Lanka) Biography Philip Michael Ondaatje is a popular and critically acclaimed Canadian writer. Known for their lyrical prose and unusual blending of genres, his works have been translated into more than a dozen languages throughout the […]

Persian poet and mathematician Author Works Poetry: Rubáiyát manuscripts (The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 1859; Edward FitzGerald, translator) Biography Most of what is known about Omar Khayyám (OH-mahr ki-YAHM) lies half buried in the fog of history. His dates of birth and death are at best good estimates, for no indisputable evidence has been found. […]

American poet Biography Charles John Olson is a major figure in American poetry of the 1950’s and 1960’s. He grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, and spent his summers in the seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts. At Wesleyan University he earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees, and at Harvard University he began but never completed a Ph.D. […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 American fiction writer and editor Born: January 14, 1912 Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska Died: January 1, 2007 Place of death: Oakland, California Biography Tillie Olsen is regarded as one of the more important American women writers of fiction in the twentieth century. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 14, 1912, the daughter […]

American short-story writer Identity: African American Author Works Short Fiction: “Key to the City,” 1965 “Health Service,” 1965 “Neighbors,” 1966 “The Closet on the Top Floor,” 1966 “Traffic Jam,” 1966 “Mint Juleps Not Served Here,” 1967 Nonfiction: “From ‘The Corner–1963,’” 1975 Biography Diane Alene Oliver deserves recognition as a talented black fiction writer whose untimely […]

Russian novelist, short-story writer, and playwright Author Works Long Fiction: Zavist’, 1927 (Envy, 1936) Tri tolstyaka, 1928 (The Three Fat Men, 1964) Short Fiction: Lyubov, 1929 Vishnevaya kostochka, 1931 The Wayward Comrade and the Commissars, 1960 Love, and Other Stories, 1967 The Complete Short Stories and “The Three Fat Men,” 1979 Drama: Zagovor chuvstv, pr., […]

American poet Biography Sharon Olds has described her attendance at an anti-Vietnam war poetry reading in 1974 as an experience that opened her eyes to the possibilities of poetry. As she listened to writers such as Muriel Rukeyser and Adrienne Rich, she became aware of poets who were writing about the intimate materials of their […]

Russian-born French novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Argile et cendres, 1946 (The World Is Not Enough, 1948) La Pierre angulaire, 1953 (The Cornerstone, 1955) Réveillés de la vie, 1956 (The Awakened, 1957) Les Irreductibles, 1958 (The Chains of Love, 1959) Les Brûles, 1960 (Destiny of Fire, 1961) Les Cités charnelles, 1961 (Cities of the Flesh, […]

Nigerian poet Author Works Poetry: “On the New Year,” 1958 “Debtor’s Lane,” 1959 “Moonglow,” 1960 “Love Apart,” 1962 “Four Canzones,” 1962 Heavensgate, 1962 Silences, 1963 Limits, 1964 Distances, 1964 “Lament of the Drums,” 1965 Path of Thunder: Poems Prophesying War, 1968 Labyrinths, with Path of Thunder, 1971 Collected Poems, 1986 Biography Christopher Okigbo (oh-KIHG-boh) died […]

American novelist Identity: Japanese American Author Works Long Fiction: No-No Boy, 1957 Biography Although the accolade is based on only one novel, John Okada (oh-KAH-dah) is hailed as one of the most influential Asian American writers. The inclusions of No-No Boy in The Heath Anthology of American Literature (1990), Columbia Literary History of the United […]

American short-story writer and novelist Author Works Short Fiction: The Doctor’s Son, and Other Stories, 1935 Hope of Heaven, 1938 Files on Parade, 1939 Pal Joey, 1940 Pipe Night, 1945 Hellbox, 1947 Assembly, 1961 The Cape Code Lighter, 1962 The Hat on the Bed, 1963 The Horse Knows the Way, 1964 Waiting for Winter, 1966 […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 American poet Born: June 27, 1926 Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland Died: July 25, 1966 Place of death: Mastic Beach, New York Biography Francis Russell O’Hara was born in Baltimore in 1926 and grew up on a farm in Grafton, Massachusetts. He disliked the rural setting and longed for the opportunities of the city. After […]

Irish short-story writer and novelist Biography Liam O’Flaherty (oh-FLAHRT-ee), a writer of extraordinary storytelling ability and powers of observation, was born on August 28, 1896, in Gort na gCapell in the Aran Islands of Ireland, a stormy, desolate region that was to influence his writing both in style and in subject. An outstanding student, O’Flaherty […]

Irish short-story writer Author Works Short Fiction: Midsummer Night’s Madness, and Other Stories, 1932 A Purse of Coppers, 1937 Teresa, and Other Stories, 1947 The Man Who Invented Sin, and Other Stories, 1948 The Finest Stories of Seán O’Faoláin, 1957 I Remember! I Remember!, 1961 The Heat of the Sun: Stories and Tales, 1966 The […]

Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist Author Works Long Fiction: Memushiri kouchi, 1958 (Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, 1995) Warera no jidai, 1959 Yoru yo yuruyaka ni ayume, 1959 Seinenno omei, 1960 Okurete kita seinen, 1962 Sakebigoe, 1963 Kojinteki na taiken, 1964 (A Personal Matter, 1968) Nichyoseikatsu no boken, 1964 Sora no kaibutsu aguwee, […]

American playwright Author Works Drama: Waiting for Lefty, pr., pb. 1935 (one act) Till the Day I Die, pr., pb. 1935 Awake and Sing!, pr., pb. 1935 Paradise Lost, pr. 1935 I Can’t Sleep, pr. 1935 Golden Boy, pr., pb. 1937 Rocket to the Moon, pr. 1938 Six Plays of Clifford Odets, pb. 1939, revised […]

American novelist Author Works Children’s/Young Adult Literature: Island of the Blue Dolphins, 1960 The King’s Fifth, 1966 The Black Pearl, 1967 The Dark Canoe, 1968 Journey to Jericho, 1969 Sing Down the Moon, 1970 The Treasure of Topo-el-Bampo, 1972 The Cruise of the Arctic Star, 1973 Child of Fire, 1974 The 290, 1976 Zia, 1976 […]

Irish short-story writer Author Works Short Fiction: Guests of the Nation, 1931 Bones of Contention, and Other Stories, 1936 Crab Apple Jelly, 1944 Selected Stories, 1946 The Common Chord, 1947 Traveller’s Samples, 1951 The Stories of Frank O’Connor, 1952 More Stories, 1954 Stories by Frank O’Connor, 1956 Domestic Relations, 1957 My Oedipus Complex, and Other […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Author Born: March 25, 1925 Birthplace: Savannah, Georgia Died: August 3, 1964 Place of death: Milledgeville, Georgia Biography Mary Flannery O’Connor’s literary art combined a disarming Catholic orthodoxy with a Hawthorne-like knowledge of the effect of sin on human relationships, which she set in the Protestant South. It proved to be an irresistible […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Oracle, 1951 The Last Hurrah, 1956 Benjy: A Ferocious Fairy Tale, 1957 The Edge of Sadness, 1961 I Was Dancing, 1964 (adaptation of his play) All in the Family, 1966 The Best and the Last of Edwin O’Connor, 1970 Short Fiction: “The Gentle, Perfect Knight,” 1947 “The Inner […]

Irish playwright Biography Sean O’Casey was born John Casey (or Casside) in Dublin on March 30, 1880, and lived to be one of the most eminent twentieth century dramatists in English. His family was Protestant, communicants of the Church of Ireland, and Unionist (several relatives had been soldiers in the British army). The family lived […]

American novelist and short-story writer Biography William Timothy O’Brien is recognized as one of the strongest voices to emerge from the Vietnam War, the defining event of his life. He was born to an insurance salesman and a teacher, and when he was nine the family moved from Austin, Minnesota, to the small town of […]

Irish novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Without My Cloak, 1931 Mary Lavelle, 1936 Pray for the Wanderer, 1938 The Last of Summer, 1943 That Lady, 1946 (also known as For One Sweet Grape) The Flower of May, 1953 As Music and Splendour, 1958 Drama: Distinguished Villa, pr. 1926 The Bridge, pr. 1927 The Schoolroom Window, […]

Irish novelist Author Works Long Fiction: At Swim-Two-Birds, 1939 An Béal Bocht, 1941 (pb. in U.S. as The Poor Mouth, 1973) The Hard Life, 1961 The Dalkey Archive, 1964 The Third Policeman, 1967 Nonfiction: Cruiskeen Lawn, 1943 The Best of Myles, 1968 The Various Lives of Keats and Chapman and the Brother, 1976 Myles Away […]

Irish short-story writer Author Works Short Fiction: The Diamond Lens, with Other Stories, 1885 What Was It?, and Other Stories, 1889 Collected Stories by Fitz-James O’Brien, 1925 The Fantastic Tales of Fitz-James O’Brien, 1977 The Supernatural Tales of Fitz-James O’Brien, 1988 (2 volumes) Drama: My Christmas Dinner, pr. 1852 A Gentleman from Ireland, pr. 1854, […]

Irish novelist and short-story writer Author Works Long Fiction: The Country Girls, 1960 The Lonely Girl, 1962 (also known as Girl with Green Eyes, 1964) Girls in Their Married Bliss, 1964 August Is a Wicked Month, 1965 Casualties of Peace, 1966 A Pagan Place, 1970 Zee and Co., 1971 Night, 1972 Johnny I Hardly Knew […]

American novelist, short-story writer, and poet Biography While still in her twenties, Joyce Carol Oates was recognized as an important writer. After decades of consistent publication, her place in the first rank of contemporary American authors is assured. Born on June 16, 1938, in Lockport, New York, Oates was reared in a rural, Catholic, working-class […]

English philosopher and historian Author Works Nonfiction: Experience and Its Modes, 1933 The Voice of Poetry in the Conversation of Mankind, 1959 Rationalism in Politics, and Other Essays, 1962, expanded 1991 Hobbes on Civil Association, 1975 On Human Conduct, 1975 On History, and Other Essays, 1983 The Voice of Liberal Learning: Michael Oakeshott on Education, […]

American poet Author Works Poetry: Different Ways to Pray, 1980 On the Edge of the Sky, 1981 Hugging the Jukebox, 1982 Yellow Glove, 1986 Invisible, 1987 Mint, 1991 Travel Alarm, 1993 Red Suitcase, 1994 Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, 1995 Fuel, 1998 Mint Snowball, 2001 Nonfiction: Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and […]

German poet and philosopher Author Works Poetry: Hymnen an die Nacht, 1800 (Hymns to the Night, 1897, 1948) Geistliche Lieder, 1802 (Devotional Songs, 1910) Long Fiction: Die Lehrlinge zu Sais, 1802 (The Disciples at Sais, 1903) Heinrich von Ofterdingen, 1802 (Henry of Ofterdingen, 1842) Nonfiction: Blütenstaub, 1798 Glauben und Liebe, 1798 Die Christenheit oder Europa, […]

English playwright Author Works Drama: Gorboduc, pr. 1561, authorized edition pb. 1570 (also known as The Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex; with Thomas Sackville) Biography The only achievement of Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville in drama consists of their collaboration on Gorboduc, first performed at one of the Inns of Court, the Inner Temple, on […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Prince Commands, 1934 Ralestone Luck, 1938 Star Man’s Son, 2250 a.d., 1952 (also known as Daybreak 2250 a.d.) The Beast Master, 1959 Judgement on Janus, 1963 Witch World, 1963 Web of the Witch World, 1964 Three Against the Witch World, 1965 Year of the Unicorn, 1965 Warlock of […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Moran of the Lady Letty, 1898 McTeague, 1899 Blix, 1899 A Man’s Woman, 1900 The Octopus, 1901 The Pit, 1903 Vandover and the Brute, 1914 Short Fiction: A Deal in Wheat, and Other Stories of the New and Old West, 1903 The Joyous Miracle, 1906 The Third Circle, 1909 […]

American playwright Author Works Drama: Getting Out, pr. 1977 Third and Oak, pr. 1978 (includes The Laundromat, pb. 1980 and The Pool Hall, pb. 1985) Circus Valentine, pr. 1979 The Hold-up, pr. 1980 ’night, Mother, pr. 1982 Traveler in the Dark, pr. 1984 Sarah and Abraham, pr. 1987 Four Plays, pb. 1988 The Secret Garden, […]

English novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Lemprière’s Dictionary, 1991 The Pope’s Rhinoceros, 1996 In the Shape of a Boar, 2000 Biography Lawrence Norfolk (NAWR-fehk) is a leading British historical novelist noted for his use of intricate detail to set historical backgrounds, the complexity of plots, and the wide array of characters included in his lengthy […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Fledgling, 1919 Picaro, 1921 The Pearl Lagoon, 1924 The Derelict, 1928 Falcons of France, 1929 (with James Norman Hall) Mutiny on the Bounty, 1932 (with Hall) Men Against the Sea, 1934 (with Hall) Pitcairn’s Island, 1934 (with Hall) The Hurricane, 1936 (with Hall) The Dark River, 1938 (with […]

American novelist and short-story writer Identity: Jewish Author Works Long Fiction: My Own Ground, 1976 The Tree of Life, 1985 The Song of the Earth, 2001 Short Fiction: A Pile of Stones, 1965 In the Reign of Peace, 1972 The Elephant and My Jewish Problem: Selected Stories and Journals, 1957-1987, 1988 Nonfiction: Notes from the […]

French memoirist Author Works Nonfiction: D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study, 1932 Realism and Reality, 1946 On Writing, 1947 The Diary of Anaïs Nin: 1931-1934, 1966 The Diary of Anaïs Nin: 1934-1939, 1967 The Novel of the Future, 1968 The Diary of Anaïs Nin: 1939-1944, 1969 The Diary of Anaïs Nin: 1944-1947, 1971 Paris Revisited, […]

American poet Author Works Poetry: Five Young American Poets: Third Series, 1944 (with others) The Iron Pastoral, 1947 A Fountain in Kentucky, and Other Poems, 1950 Knowledge of the Evening: Poems, 1950-1960, 1960 Of Flesh and Bone, 1967 Selected Poems, 1982 The Kiss: A Jambalaya, 1982 The Six-Cornered Snowflake, and Other Poems, 1990 Zany in […]

Italian novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Angelo di Bontà, 1855 (novella) Il conte pecoraio, 1857 (novella) Le confessioni di un ottuagenario, 1867 (partial translation as The Castle of Fratta, 1954) Poetry: Versi, 1854 Le lucciole, 1858 Amori Garibaldini, 1860 Biography The one truly great novel of mid-nineteenth century Italy is by Ippolito Nievo (NYAY-voh): The […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 German philosopher Born: October 15, 1844 Birthplace: Röcken, Saxony, Prussia (now in Germany) Died: August 25, 1900 Place of death: Weimar, Germany Biography Friedrich Nietzsche (NEE-chuh), who proclaimed in his philosophy that human beings could rise beyond good and evil and leave behind the slave morality of Christianity, was the son of a […]

American poet Author Works Poetry: New Goose, 1946 My Friend Tree, 1961 North Central, 1968 T&G: The Collected Poems, 1936-1966, 1968 My Life by Water: Collected Poems, 1936-1968, 1970 (enlargement of T&G) Blue Chicory, 1976 The Granite Pail: The Selected Poems of Lorine Niedecker, 1985 From This Condensery: The Complete Writing of Lorine Niedecker, 1985 […]

English biographer, historian, and diplomat Identity: Gay or bisexual Author Works Nonfiction: Paul Verlaine, 1921 Tennyson: Aspects of His Life, Character, and Poetry, 1923 Byron: The Last Journey, 1924 Swinburne, 1926 Some People, 1927 (sketches) The Development of English Biography, 1927 Sir Arthur Nicolson, Bart., First Lord Carnock, 1930 (also known as Portrait of a […]

English playwright and screenwriter Author Works Drama: The Hooded Terror, pr. 1963 (televised), pr. 1964 (staged) A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, pr., pb. 1967 The National Health: Or, Nurse Norton’s Affair, pr. 1969 Forget-Me-Not Lane, pr., pb. 1971 Neither Up nor Down, pr. 1972 Chez Nous, pr., pb. 1974 The Freeway, pr. […]

American novelist Author Works Long Fiction: The Sterile Cuckoo, 1965 The Wizard of Loneliness, 1966 The Milagro Beanfield War, 1974 The Magic Journey, 1978 A Ghost in the Music, 1979 The Nirvana Blues, 1981 American Blood, 1987 An Elegy for September, 1992 Conjugal Bliss: A Comedy of Martial Arts, 1994 The Voice of the Butterfly, […]

Kenyan novelist, playwright, and essayist Author Works Long Fiction: Weep Not, Child, 1964 The River Between, 1965 A Grain of Wheat, 1967 Secret Lives, 1974 Petals of Blood, 1977 Caitaani Mutharaba-Ini, 1980 (Devil on the Cross, 1982) Matigari ma Njiruungi, 1986 (Matigari, 1989) Short Fiction: Secret Lives, and Other Stories, 1975 Drama: The Black Hermit, […]

American novelist and short-story writer Identity: Chinese American Author Works Long Fiction: Bone, 1993 Short Fiction: “A Red Sweater,” The American Voice, vol. 4, 1986 “Backdaire,” 1989 Nonfiction: “False Gold: My Father’s American Journey,” 1993 Biography Bone, the novel by Fae Myenne Ng (ihng), depicts a cultural divide between her own assimilated generation and that […]

Danish novelist Author Works Long Fiction: Dryss, 1902 Pelle erobreren, 1906-1910 (4 volumes; Pelle the Conqueror, 1913-1916) Ditte Menneskebarn, 1917-1921 (Ditte, Girl Alive!, 1920; Ditte, Daughter of Man, 1921; Ditte, Towards the Stars, 1922) Midt i en Jærntid, 1929 (In God’s Land, 1933) Morten hin Røde, 1945-1957 (3 volumes) Short Fiction: Skygger, 1898 Muldskud, 1900 […]

English mathematician, physicist, and critic Author Works Nonfiction: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1687 (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1729; best known as the Principia, 1848) Opticks, 1704 Arithmetica Universalis, 1707 (Universal Arithmetick, 1720) Analysis per Quantitatum Series, Fluxiones, ad Differentias: Cum Enumeratione Linearum Tertii Ordinis, 1711 (includes De Analysi per Aquationes Infinitas; Fragmenta Epistolarum; […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 English theologian Born: February 21, 1801 Birthplace: London, England Died: August 11, 1890 Place of death: Birmingham, England Biography John Henry Newman, who was to be the outstanding figure in nineteenth century English theology, was born in London on February 21, 1801, the oldest son of John Newman, a banker. After private schooling […]

French poet and short-story writer Author Works Poetry: Elégies nationales, 1826 Poésies allemandes, 1830 (translation) Petits Châteaux de Bohème, 1853 (includes poetry and prose) Les Chimères, 1854 (English translation, 1965; also known as Chimeras, 1966) Fortune’s Fool: Selected Poems, 1959 Short Fiction: Les Illuminés, 1852 “Sylvie,” 1853 (English translation, 1922) Les Filles du feu, 1854 […]

Last reviewed: June 2017 Poet Born: July 12, 1904 Birthplace: Parral, Chile Died: September 23, 1973 Place of death: Santiago, Chile Biography Pablo Neruda (nay-REW-duh) is one of the greatest South American poets of the twentieth century. He was born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, a small frontier town in Chile, to José del Carmen Reyes, […]

American poet Identity: Jewish Biography Howard Nemerov (NEHM-eh-rawf), a quiet and little-heralded poet throughout much of his life, was born to wealthy Jewish parents who were interested in the arts. Later Nemerov developed an ambivalent attitude toward his relatively protected and privileged childhood. He attended Fieldston School, a preparatory school, and after his graduation in […]

Russian poet Author Works Poetry: “Vlas,” 1854 Korobeiniki, 1861 Moroz krasny-nos, 1863 (Red-Nosed Frost, 1929) Komu na Rusi zhit’khorosho?, wr. 1863-1878, pb. 1879 (Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?, 1917) “Russkie zhenshchiny,” 1872-1873 Poslednie pesni, 1877 Poems by Nicholas Nekrassov, 1929 Biography Nikolai Nekrasov (nyih-KRA-suhf) was born in 1821 and grew up on […]

American poet and memoirist Author Works Poetry: The Divine Enchantment, 1900 A Bundle of Myrrh, 1907 The Stranger at the Gate, 1912 The Song of Hugh Glass, 1915 The Song of Three Friends, 1919 The Song of the Indian Wars, 1925 Collected Poems, 1926 The Song of the Messiah, 1935 The Song of Jed Smith, […]

American novelist and short-story writer Author Works Children’s/Young Adult Literature: The Galloping Goat, and Other Stories, 1965 Jennifer Jean, Cross-Eyed Queen, 1967 To Shake a Shadow, 1967 What the Gulls Were Singing, 1967 When Rivers Meet, 1968 Witch’s Sister, 1975 Walking Through the Dark, 1976 Change in the Wind, 1980 (short stories) A String of […]

American novelist Identity: African American Author Works Long Fiction: The Women of Brewster Place: A Novel in Seven Stories, 1982 Linden Hills, 1985 Mama Day, 1988 Bailey’s Café, 1992 The Men of Brewster Place, 1998 Edited Text: Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present, 1995 Biography In […]

Last reviewed: June 2018 Japanese novelist Born: February 9, 1867 Birthplace: Edo (now Tokyo), Japan Died: December 9, 1916 Place of death: Tokyo, Japan Biography Sōseki Natsume (soh-seh-kee naht-soom-ee)—against tradition, he is usually referred to as Sōseki—is generally regarded as the most popular twentieth century Japanese novelist. The son of a ward chief, he was born Kinnosuke […]