Artists & Writers
Painters, poets, and storytellers of the human soul.
records written
Modern era
Nathaniel Hawthorne
July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864
American author (1804–1864)
Modern era
Herman Melville
August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891
American writer and poet (1819–1891)
Modern era
Mark Twain
November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
American author and humorist (1835–1910)
Modern era
Walt Whitman
May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892
American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892)
Modern era
Emily Dickinson
December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886
American poet (1830-1886)
Modern era
Louisa May Alcott
November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888
American novelist (1832–1888)
Modern era
Harriet Beecher Stowe
June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896
American abolitionist and author (1811–1896)
Modern era
Rabindranath Tagore
May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941
Bengali poet, philosopher and polymath (1861–1941)
Modern era
Khalil Gibran
January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931
Lebanese-American writer, poet, and painter (1883–1931)
Modern era
W. B. Yeats
June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939
Irish poet and playwright (1865–1939)
Modern era
T. S. Eliot
September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965
US-British poet (1888–1965)
Modern era
Robert Frost
March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963
American poet (1874–1963)
Modern era
James Joyce
February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941
Irish novelist and poet (1882–1941)
Modern era
Virginia Woolf
January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941
English modernist writer (1882–1941)
Modern era
Franz Kafka
July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924
Bohemian writer from Prague (1883–1924)
Modern era
Marcel Proust
July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922
French novelist, critic and essayist (1871–1922)
Modern era
Thomas Mann
June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955
German novelist and Nobel Prize laureate (1875–1955)
Modern era
Hermann Hesse
July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962
Nobel Prize winning German-Swiss poet, novelist and painter (1877–1962)
Modern era
Rainer Maria Rilke
December 4, 1875 – December 29, 1926
Austrian poet and writer (1875–1926)
Modern era
Bertolt Brecht
February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956
German poet, playwright, and theatre director (1898–1956)
Modern era
Bertrand Russell
May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970
British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)
Modern era
Jean-Paul Sartre
June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980
French existentialist philosopher (1905–1980)
Modern era
Simone de Beauvoir
January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986
French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)
Modern era
Albert Camus
November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960
French philosopher, author, and journalist (1913–1960)
Modern era
Hannah Arendt
October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975
German-American political theorist and philosopher (1906–1975)
Modern era
George Orwell
June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950
British writer and journalist (1903–1950)
Modern era
Aldous Huxley
July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963
English writer and philosopher (1894–1963)
Modern era
J. R. R. Tolkien
January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973
English writer and philologist (1892–1973)
Modern era
C. S. Lewis
November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963
British writer, lay theologian, and scholar (1898–1963)
Modern era
Agatha Christie
September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976
English mystery and detective writer (1890–1976)
Modern era
Roald Dahl
September 13, 1916 – November 23, 1990
British writer and poet (1916–1990)
Modern era
Dr. Seuss
March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991
American children's author and cartoonist (1904–1991)
Modern era
Ernest Hemingway
July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961
American author and journalist (1899–1961)
Modern era
F. Scott Fitzgerald
September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940
American writer (1896–1940)
Modern era
John Steinbeck
February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968
American writer (1902–1968)
Modern era
William Faulkner
September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962
American writer (1897-1962)
Modern era
Tennessee Williams
March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983
American playwright (1911–1983)
Modern era
Arthur Miller
October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005
American playwright and essayist (1915–2005)
Modern era
Samuel Beckett
April 13, 1906 – December 22, 1989
Irish writer (1906–1989)
Modern era
Vladimir Nabokov
April 10, 1899 – July 2, 1977
Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor (1899–1977)
Modern era
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008
Russian writer, publicist, poet and politician (1918–2008)
Modern era
Harper Lee
April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016
American novelist (1926–2016)
Modern era
James Baldwin
August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987
American writer (1924–1987)
Modern era
Langston Hughes
February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967
American writer and social activist (1901–1967)
Modern era
Zora Neale Hurston
January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960
African American folklorist, novelist, short story writer, and Civic Rights advocate (1891–1960)
Modern era
Toni Morrison
February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019
African American novelist, essayist, and academic (1931–2019)
Contemporary era
Maya Angelou
April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014
Poet and memoirist of the American experience
Modern era
Sylvia Plath
October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963
American poet and writer (1932–1963)
Modern era
Kurt Vonnegut
November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007
American author (1922–2007)
Modern era
Ray Bradbury
August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012
American author and screenwriter (1920–2012)
Modern era
Arthur C. Clarke
December 16, 1917 – March 19, 2008
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
Modern era
Pablo Neruda
July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973
Chilean poet and politician (1904-1973)
Modern era
Jorge Luis Borges
August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986
Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator (1899–1986)
Modern era
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
March 6, 1927 – April 17, 2014
Colombian writer and Nobel laureate (1927–2014)
Modern era
Isabel Allende
b. August 2, 1942
Chilean writer (born 1942)
Contemporary era
Paulo Coelho
b. August 24, 1947
Brazilian lyricist and novelist (born 1947)
Modern era
Chinua Achebe
November 16, 1930 – March 21, 2013
Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic (1930-2013)
Modern era
Naguib Mahfouz
December 11, 1911 – August 30, 2006
Egyptian writer (1911–2006)
Contemporary era
Haruki Murakami
b. January 12, 1949
Japanese writer (born 1949)
Modern era
Margaret Atwood
b. November 18, 1939
Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, pépiniériste and inventor (born 1939)