callings of the archive
Playwright Biographies
Every archived life recorded as playwright, ordered by their place in the ledger.
Ancient era
Seneca the Younger
c. 4 BCE – April 12, 1965 CE
Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist (c. 4 BCE–65 CE)
Ancient era
Aeschylus
525 BCE – 456 BCE
Ancient Athenian playwright
Ancient era
Sophocles
496 BCE – 406 BCE
Ancient Greek playwright
Ancient era
Euripides
c. 480 BCE – c. 406 BCE
Classical Athenian playwright
Ancient era
Aristophanes
448 BCE – 386 BCE
Classical Athenian comic playwright (c. 446 – c. 386 BC)
Kalidasa
A classical Sanskrit writer widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist of ancient India.
Early Modern era
Miguel de Cervantes
September 29, 1547 – April 22, 1616
Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (1547-1616)
Early Modern era
William Shakespeare
1564 – April 23, 1616
English playwright and poet, the most performed dramatist in history
Early Modern era
Christopher Marlowe
February 6, 1564 – May 30, 1593
English dramatist, poet and translator (1564–1593)
Early Modern era
Moliere
January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673
French playwright and actor (1622–1673)
Early Modern era
Percy Bysshe Shelley
August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822
British Romantic poet (1792–1822)
Early Modern era
Walter Scott
August 15, 1771 – September 21, 1832
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771–1832)
Modern era
Victor Hugo
February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885
French novelist, poet, dramatist and politician (1802–1885)
Modern era
Alexandre Dumas
July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870
French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)
Early Modern era
Alexander Pushkin
May 26, 1799 – January 29, 1837
Russian poet, playwright, and novelist (1799–1837)
Modern era
Nikolai Gogol
March 19, 1809 – February 21, 1852
Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (1809–1852)
Modern era
Leo Tolstoy
August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910
Russian novelist of War and Peace and moral philosopher
Modern era
Oscar Wilde
October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900
Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900)
Modern era
Jules Verne
February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905
French writer (1828–1905)
Modern era
Rabindranath Tagore
May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941
Bengali poet, philosopher and polymath (1861–1941)
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
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
Jean-Paul Sartre
June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980
French existentialist philosopher (1905–1980)
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
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
Kurt Vonnegut
November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007
American author (1922–2007)
Modern era
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
March 6, 1927 – April 17, 2014
Colombian writer and Nobel laureate (1927–2014)
Modern era
Naguib Mahfouz
December 11, 1911 – August 30, 2006
Egyptian writer (1911–2006)
Modern era
Ingmar Bergman
July 14, 1918 – July 30, 2007
Swedish director and screenwriter (1918–2007)
Contemporary era
Chadwick Boseman
November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020
American actor (1976–2020)
Modern era
Bano Qudsia
November 28, 1928 – February 4, 2017
Pakistani writer
Modern era
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
September 26, 1820 – July 29, 1891
Philosopher, academic, writer, translator, entrepreneur, social reformer and philanthropist (1820-1891)
Modern era
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
September 15, 1876 – January 16, 1938
Bengali novelist and short story writer (1876-1938)
Modern era
Krishan Chander
November 23, 1914 – March 8, 1977
Indian writer (1914–1977)
Modern era
Rajinder Singh Bedi
September 1, 1915 – November 11, 1984
Indian author, director and screenwriter
Modern era
Nazim Hikmet
January 15, 1902 – June 3, 1963
Turkish communist poet, playwright and novelist (1902–1963)
Modern era
Cesar Vallejo
March 16, 1892 – April 15, 1938
Peruvian writer
Medieval era
Angelo Poliziano
July 14, 1454 – September 29, 1494
Italian classical scholar and poet (1454-1494)
Modern era
Kandukuri Veeresalingam
April 16, 1848 – May 27, 1919
Social reformer and father of modern Telugu literature
Modern era
Gurajada Apparao
September 21, 1862 – November 30, 1915
Telugu writer and Poet (1862-1915)
Modern era
Shaukat Thanvi
1904 – 1963
Pakistani writer
Modern era
Bhartendu Harishchandra
September 9, 1850 – January 6, 1885
Indian Hindi writer, poet and dramatist (1850–1885); father of modern Hindi literature
Modern era
Jaishankar Prasad
January 30, 1889 – January 14, 1937
Indian poet, dramatist, and novelist of modern Hindi literature (1889–1937)
Modern era
Mir Mosharraf Hossain
November 13, 1847 – 1912
Bengali novelist, essayist and playwright
Modern era
Dinabandhu Mitra
1830 – November 1, 1873
Bengali dramatist (1830–1873)
Modern era
Girish Chandra Ghosh
February 28, 1844 – February 8, 1912
Bengali actor, director, and writer
Modern era
Sukanta Bhattacharya
August 15, 1926 – May 13, 1947
Bengali poet (1926–1947)
Modern era
Lakshminath Bezbaroa
1868 – 1938
Assamese writer (1868–1938)
Modern era
Mirza Ibrahim
October 15, 1911 – December 17, 1993
Azerbaijani writer (1911-1993)
Modern era
Vaclav Havel
October 5, 1936 – December 18, 2011
Czech statesman, playwright, and former dissident, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic (1936–2011)
Modern era
Robert Browning
May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889
English poet and playwright (1812–1889)
Modern era
Henry James
April 15, 1843 – February 28, 1916
American and British writer (1843–1916)
Modern era
D. H. Lawrence
September 11, 1885 – March 2, 1930
English writer and poet (1885–1930)
Modern era
Henrik Ibsen
March 20, 1828 – May 23, 1906
Norwegian playwright and theatre director (1828–1906)
Modern era
George Bernard Shaw
July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950
Irish playwright, critic, and polemicist (1856–1950)