On this day
February 9 in literary history
Literary history for February 9: 22 writers born, 14 writers who died and 1 literary events from 1441 to 2025. Born on this day: David Simon, Jo Duffy, Gabriel Rotello.
Writers born on February 9
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | David Simon | American author, journalist, and television writer and producer (born 1960) |
| 1954 | Jo Duffy | American comics writer |
| 1953 | Gabriel Rotello | American musician, writer and filmmaker (born 1963) |
| 1946 | Jim Webb | American politician, military officer and author (born 1946) |
| 1944 | Alice Walker | American author and activist (born 1944) |
| 1940 | J. M. Coetzee | South African and Australian writer (born 1940) |
| 1935 | Lionel Fanthorpe | British writer |
| 1931 | Thomas Bernhard | Austrian novelist and playwright (1931–1989) |
| 1931 | Robert Morris (artist) | American sculptor, conceptual artist and writer (1931 - 2018) |
| 1928 | Frank Frazetta | American illustrator and painter (1928–2010) |
| 1927 | Richard A. Long | American cultural historian and writer (1927–2013) |
| 1923 | Brendan Behan | Irish poet and writer (1923–1964) |
| 1898 | Jūkichi Yagi | Japanese poet (1898–1927) |
| 1893 | Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas | Greek poet, lawyer and politician |
| 1889 | Larry Semon | American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (1889–1928) |
| 1874 | Amy Lowell | American poet (1874–1925) |
| 1867 | Natsume Sōseki | Japanese novelist (1867–1916) |
| 1863 | Anthony Hope | English novelist (1863-1933) |
| 1834 | Felix Dahn | German professor, author, poet, and historian (1834–1912) |
| 1783 | Vasily Zhukovsky | Russian poet (1783–1852) |
| 1737 | Thomas Paine | English-born philosopher and author (1737–1809) |
| 1441 | Ali-Shir Nava'i | Turkic poet and politician (1441–1501) |
Writers who died on February 9
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tom Robbins | American writer (1932–2025) |
| 2014 | Gabriel Axel | Danish film director, actor, writer and producer |
| 2012 | O. P. Dutta | Indian filmmaker and writer |
| 2008 | Christopher Hyatt | American psychologist, occultist and writer |
| 2002 | Isabelle Holland | American author of fiction for children and adults (1920-2022) |
| 1989 | Osamu Tezuka | Japanese cartoonist and animator (1928–1989) |
| 1980 | Tom Macdonald (writer) | Welsh journalist and novelist |
| 1979 | Allen Tate | American poet, essayist, social commentator (1899–1979) |
| 1906 | Paul Laurence Dunbar | African-American writer (1872–1906) |
| 1903 | Charles Gavan Duffy | Irish poet, politician and journalist |
| 1881 | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Russian novelist and philosopher (1821–1881) |
| 1874 | Jules Michelet | French writer and historian (1798–1874) |
| 1857 | Dionysios Solomos | Greek national poet (1798–1857) |
| 1803 | Jean François de Saint-Lambert | French poet, philosopher and military officer (1716–1803) |
Literary events on February 9
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1922 | Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. |
Featured
David Simon (1960) — David Judah Simon is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on The Wire (2002–2008).
Jo Duffy (1954) — Mary Jo Duffy is an American comic book editor and writer, who worked for Marvel Comics in the 1980s and DC Comics and Image Comics in the 1990s.
Gabriel Rotello (1953) — Gabriel Rotello is an American musician, writer and filmmaker. He created New York's Downtown Divas revues in the 1980s, was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of OutWeek magazine, became the first openly gay columnist at a major American newspaper, New York Newsday, and authored the book Sexual Ecology.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.