May 2 Writer Birthdays
May 2 Writer Birthdays
- 1551 - William Camden, leading English historian.
- 1729 - Catherine the Great (Yekaterina Alexeevna, born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg), Empress of Russia, presiding over Russia's Golden Age; also wrote memoirs, comedic plays, fiction and a book about pedagogy. (That's her, to the right.)
- 1772 - Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (pseudonym Novalis) early German Romantic poet, author, and philosopher.
- 1779 - John Galt, Scottish explorer and prolific novelist.
- 1837 - Henry Martyn Robert, U.S. Army Brigadier General who authored Robert's Rules of Order, the widely used manual of parliamentary procedure that remains the most common parliamentary authority in the U.S. today.
- 1859 - Jerome K. Jerome, English playwright, journalist, editor & author of humorous novels, best known for the travelogue Three Men in a Boat.
- 1860 - Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian Jewish playwright, journalist & activist; the father of modern Zionism.
- 1872 - Ichiyo Higuchi (Higuchi Natsu), Japanese novelist, poet, and diarist.
- 1890 - Hedda Hopper, American actress, journalist, and iconic gossip columnist.
- 1890 - E.E. Smith, American food engineer and early science fiction author; known as the father of space opera.
- 1903 - Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician whose baby-care book was a huge bestseller for decades.
- 1921 - Satyajit Ray, Indian film director, screenwriter, fiction writer, film critic, and calligrapher.
- 1931 - Martha Grimes, American author of detective fiction.
- 1936 - Kwon-taek Im (or Im Kwon Taek), Korean film director and screenwriter.
- 1949 - Alan Titchmarsh, English broadcaster, gardening journalist, and novelist.
I love compiling these lists. It's so interesting learning more about historical figures I already knew about, and learning about authors I'd never heard of before. For example, Catherine the Great was a writer! Who knew?