Writer Biographies

Modern era

Kwame Nkrumah

September 21, 1909 – April 27, 1972

Ghanaian politician (1909–1972)

Modern era

Julius Nyerere

April 13, 1922 – October 14, 1999

Tanzanian politician and writer, first Prime Minister and President of Tanzania (1922–1999)

Early Modern era

Leonhard Euler

April 15, 1707 – September 18, 1783

Swiss mathematician, physicist, and engineer (1707–1783)

Early Modern era

Michael Faraday

September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867

British scientist (1791–1867)

Modern era

Richard Feynman

May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988

American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)

Modern era

Frederick Banting

November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941

Canadian medical scientist and doctor (1891-1941)

Modern era

Wilbur Wright

April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912

American aviation pioneer (1867-1912)

Modern era

John Logie Baird

August 13, 1888 – June 14, 1946

Scottish inventor, demonstrating the world's first working television (1888–1946)

Contemporary era

Robert Goddard

b. November 13, 1954

English novelist

Modern era

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

September 5, 1857 – September 19, 1935

Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory (1857-1935)

Ancient era

Homer

c. 900 BCE – c. 800 BCE

Ancient Greek poet credited with the Iliad and the Odyssey

Ancient era

Sappho

c. 650 BCE – c. 550 BCE

Ancient Greek poet from Lesbos (c. 630-c. 570 BC)

Ancient era

Aesop

620 BCE – 564 BCE

Ancient Greek storyteller (619 BC–563 BC)

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)

Ancient era

Virgil

70 BCE – 19 BCE

Roman poet (1st century BC)

Ancient era

Ovid

43 BCE – 17 CE

Roman poet (43 BC – 17/18 AD)

Kalidasa

A classical Sanskrit writer widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist of ancient India.

Ancient era

Sima Qian

145 BCE – 86 BCE

Chinese historian (c. 145 – c. 86 BCE)

Medieval era

Li Bai

May 19, 701 CE – November 30, 762 CE

Classical Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty (701–762)

Medieval era

Du Fu

712 CE – 770 CE

Tang dynasty Chinese poet (712–770)

Medieval era

Murasaki Shikibu

978 CE – 1014

Japanese novelist and poet (c.973–c.1014)

Medieval era

Ferdowsi

940 CE – 1020

Persian poet, author of Shahnameh (940–1020)

Medieval era

Hafez

1326 – 1389

Persian poet and mystic (1325–1389)

Medieval era

Dante Alighieri

May 30, 1265 – September 13, 1321

Florentine poet, writer, and philosopher (c. 1265–1321)

Medieval era

Niccolo Machiavelli

May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527

Florentine statesman, diplomat, and political theorist (1469–1527)

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

John Milton

December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674

English poet and civil servant (1608–1674)

Early Modern era

John Locke

August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704

English philosopher and physician (1632-1704)

Early Modern era

Adam Smith

June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790

Scottish moral philosopher and political economist (1723–1790)

Early Modern era

Edmund Burke

January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797

Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher (1729–1797)

Early Modern era

Thomas Paine

February 9, 1737 – June 8, 1809

American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)

Early Modern era

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831

German philosopher and theologian (1770–1831)

Early Modern era

Arthur Schopenhauer

February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860

German philosopher (1788-1860)

Modern era

Friedrich Engels

November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895

German philosopher, sociologist and economist (1820–1895)

Modern era

Friedrich Nietzsche

October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900

German philosopher (1844-1900)

Modern era

Ralph Waldo Emerson

May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882

American philosopher (1803–1882)

Early Modern era

Robert Burns

January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796

Scottish poet and lyricist (1759–1796)

Early Modern era

William Wordsworth

April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850

English Romantic poet (1770–1850)

Early Modern era

Mary Shelley

August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851

English writer (1797–1851)

Early Modern era

John Keats

October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821

English Romantic poet (1795–1821)

Modern era

Jane Austen

December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817

English novelist whose social comedies never left print

Early Modern era

Wilhelm Grimm

February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859

German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)

Modern era

Alexandre Dumas

July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870

French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)

Early Modern era

Honore de Balzac

May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850

French novelist and playwright (1799–1850)

Modern era

Gustave Flaubert

December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880

French novelist (1821–1880)

Modern era

Leo Tolstoy

August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910

Russian novelist of War and Peace and moral philosopher

Modern era

Anton Chekhov

January 17, 1860 – July 2, 1904

Russian dramatist and author (1860–1904)

Modern era

Charles Dickens

February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870

English novelist and social critic (1812–1870)

Modern era

Charlotte Bronte

April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855

British novelist and poet (1816-1855)

Modern era

Emily Bronte

July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848

English novelist and poet (1818–1848)

Modern era

George Eliot

November 22, 1819 – December 22, 1880

English novelist, essayist, poet and journalist (1819–1880)

Modern era

Thomas Hardy

June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928

English novelist and poet (1840–1928)

Modern era

Bram Stoker

November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912

Irish novelist and short story writer (1847–1912)

Modern era

Rudyard Kipling

December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936

English writer and poet (1865–1936)

Modern era

H. G. Wells

September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946

English writer (1866–1946)

Modern era

Edgar Allan Poe

January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849

American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)