callings of the archive
Writer Biographies
Every archived life recorded as writer, ordered by their place in the ledger.
Modern era
Nathaniel Hawthorne
July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864
American author (1804–1864)
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
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
Robert Frost
March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963
American poet (1874–1963)
Modern era
Marcel Proust
July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922
French novelist, critic and essayist (1871–1922)
Modern era
Rainer Maria Rilke
December 4, 1875 – December 29, 1926
Austrian poet and writer (1875–1926)
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
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
Dr. Seuss
March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991
American children's author and cartoonist (1904–1991)
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
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
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)
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)
Contemporary era
Paulo Coelho
b. August 24, 1947
Brazilian lyricist and novelist (born 1947)
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)
Contemporary era
J. K. Rowling
b. July 31, 1965
English author (born 1965)
Modern era
Salvador Dali
May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989
Spanish artist (1904–1989)
Contemporary era
Keith Haring
May 4, 1958 – 1989
American artist and social activist (1958-1990)
Contemporary era
Banksy
b. 1973
English graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Modern era
Frank Lloyd Wright
June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959
American architect (1867-1959)
Modern era
Giuseppe Verdi
April 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901
Italian opera composer (1813–1901)
Modern era
Hector Berlioz
December 11, 1803 – March 8, 1869
French composer and conductor (1803–1869)
Medieval era
Ibn Battuta
February 24, 1304 – 1368
Moroccan explorer who traveled 120,000 km across the medieval world
Medieval era
Amerigo Vespucci
March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512
Florentine explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer
Medieval era
Hernan Cortes
1485 – December 2, 1547
Spanish conquistador
Early Modern era
Walter Raleigh
January 22, 1552 – October 29, 1618
English statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
Modern era
David Livingstone
March 19, 1813 – May 1, 1873
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
Modern era
Henry Morton Stanley
January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
Modern era
Richard Francis Burton
March 19, 1821 – October 20, 1890
British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
Modern era
Roald Amundsen
July 16, 1872 – June 18, 1928
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
Modern era
Matthew Henson
August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955
American explorer (1866–1955)
Modern era
Florence Nightingale
May 12, 1820 – August 13, 1910
Founder of modern nursing and pioneer of medical statistics
Contemporary era
Sally Ride
May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012
American astronaut and physicist (1951–2012)
Modern era
Harriet Tubman
1821 – March 10, 1913
African-American abolitionist (1822–1913)
Modern era
Frederick Douglass
1817 – February 20, 1895
African-American social reformer, writer, and abolitionist (c. 1818–1895)
Early Modern era
Sojourner Truth
1797 – November 26, 1883
Abolitionist and African-American activist for women's rights (1797–1883)
Modern era
Susan B. Anthony
February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906
American women's rights activist (1820–1906)
Modern era
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902
American writer, suffragist and Women's Rights activist (1815–1902)
Modern era
Ida B. Wells
July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931
American journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)
Modern era
W. E. B. Du Bois
February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963
American sociologist and activist (1868–1963)
Modern era
Booker T. Washington
April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915
African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor (1856-1915)
Modern era
Mother Jones
May 1, 1830 – November 30, 1930
Irish-born American labor and community organizer (1837–1930)
Modern era
Jane Addams
September 6, 1860 – June 21, 1935
American feminist social activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, philosopher, and writer (1860–1935)
Early Modern era
William Wilberforce
August 24, 1759 – July 29, 1833
English politician and abolitionist (1759–1833)
Early Modern era
Olaudah Equiano
1745 – March 31, 1797
Black British abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797)
Modern era
Elie Wiesel
September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016
Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor (1928-2016)