April 3 Writer Birthdays
April 3 Writer Birthdays
1593 - George Herbert, Welsh poet, orator, priest, and pivotal figure in devotional lyrics; associated with metaphysical poetry.- 1783 - Washington Irving, American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat; best known for his short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle."
- 1837 - John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist; a key figure in the U.S. conservation movement.
- 1880 - Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher and author (now widely considered misogynistic and antisemitic); fatally shot himself in the chest at the age of 23 in the same room where Beethoven died.
- 1894 - Dora Black Russell, British author, feminist, birth-control activist, and Countess; married to author and philosopher Bertrand Russell.
- 1898 - Henry Luce, American journalist, editor, and magazine magnate; founder of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines; called "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day."
- 1916 - Herb Caen, San Francisco-based journalist and columnist for almost 60 years.
- 1934 - Jane Goodall, British primatologist, anthropologist, author, and animal-rights activist; world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, and the only human ever known to be accepted in chimpanzee society.
- 1957 - Unni Lindell, Norwegian novelist, poet, and children’s book writer.
- 1958 - Vanna Bonta, Italian-born American science-fiction novelist, poet, and actress; invented a spacesuit that was tested in zero-gravity on the History Channel; a haiku she wrote is currently on a NASA spacecraft headed to Mars.