On this day
June 21 in literary history
Literary history for June 21: 32 writers born, 20 writers who died and 1 literary events from 1529 to 2024. Born on this day: Thomas Blondeau, Víctor Montoya, Berkeley Breathed.
Writers born on June 21
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Thomas Blondeau | Belgian writer, poet and journalist |
| 1958 | Víctor Montoya | Bolivian writer |
| 1957 | Berkeley Breathed | American cartoonist and author (born 1957) |
| 1954 | Robert Menasse | Austrian writer (born 1954) |
| 1950 | Anne Carson | Canadian poet and academic |
| 1949 | John Agard | Guyanese playwright, poet and writer |
| 1948 | Ian McEwan | British novelist and screenwriter (born 1948) |
| 1948 | Andrzej Sapkowski | Polish fantasy writer |
| 1947 | Fernando Savater | Spanish philosophy professor and author |
| 1945 | Adam Zagajewski | Polish poet (1945–2021) |
| 1942 | Henry S. Taylor | American poet |
| 1938 | Don Black (lyricist) | English lyricist (born 1938) |
| 1935 | Françoise Sagan | French writer (1935–2004) |
| 1932 | Bernard Ingham | British civil servant and writer (1932–2023) |
| 1930 | Gerald Kaufman | British politician and author (1930–2017) |
| 1925 | Stanley Moss | American poet, publisher, and art dealer (1925–2024) |
| 1924 | Wally Fawkes | Canadian-British cartoonist and clarinettist (1924–2023) |
| 1924 | Jean Laplanche | French psychoanalyst, author & editor |
| 1922 | Joseph Ki-Zerbo | Burkinabé historian, politician and writer |
| 1912 | Mary McCarthy (American writer) | American novelist and political activist (1912–1989) |
| 1912 | Vishnu Prabhakar | Indian writer |
| 1910 | Aleksandr Tvardovsky | Soviet poet and writer (1910–1971) |
| 1894 | Milward Kennedy | UK public servant and writer (1894–1968) |
| 1883 | Fyodor Gladkov | Soviet and Russian writer (1883–1958) |
| 1880 | Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp | British industrialist, economist, politician, and writer (1880–1941) |
| 1850 | Daniel Carter Beard | American artist and writer (1850–1941) |
| 1846 | Marion Adams-Acton | Scottish novelist (1846-1928) |
| 1839 | Machado de Assis | Brazilian writer (1839–1908) |
| 1834 | Frans de Cort | Belgian writer |
| 1828 | Nikolaus Nilles | Author of the Kalendarium; a medieval manuscripts manual |
| 1798 | Alexander Thomson of Banchory | Scottish advocate, agriculturalist, antiquary, author, philanthropist and traveller |
| 1797 | Wilhelm Küchelbecker | Russian poet (1797–1846) |
Writers who died on June 21
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Frederick Crews | American essayist and literary critic (1933–2024) |
| 2015 | Veijo Meri | Finnish writer |
| 2015 | Remo Remotti | Italian actor, playwright, artist, and poet |
| 2012 | Richard Adler | American lyricist, writer, composer and producer (1921–2012) |
| 2011 | Robert Kroetsch | Canadian novelist, poet and nonfiction writer (1927 – 2011) |
| 2010 | Russell Ash | British writer (1946-2010) |
| 2004 | Ruth Leach Amonette | American businesswoman, author, and educator (1916–2004) |
| 2003 | Leon Uris | American author (1924–2003) |
| 2002 | Timothy Findley | Canadian novelist and playwright |
| 1992 | Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah | Bangladeshi poet (1956–1991) |
| 1990 | Cedric Belfrage | English writer and activist (1904–1990) |
| 1981 | Don Figlozzi | American cartoonist |
| 1957 | Claude Farrère | French Navy officer and writer |
| 1940 | Smedley Butler | United States Marine Corps officer, author, and lecturer (1881–1940) |
| 1934 | Thorne Smith | American writer (1892–1934) |
| 1914 | Bertha von Suttner | Austrian novelist and pacifist (1843–1914) |
| 1824 | Étienne Aignan | French translator, political writer, librettist and playwright (1773–1824) |
| 1631 | John Smith (explorer) | English soldier, explorer and writer (c. 1579–1631) |
| 1621 | Kryštof Harant | Czech nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer |
| 1529 | John Skelton (poet) | English poet and tutor (1463–1529) |
Literary events on June 21
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1890 | Rudyard Kipling's poem Mandalay was published. |
Featured
Thomas Blondeau (1978) — Thomas Blondeau was a Flemish writer, poet and journalist. He studied literature at the University of Leuven and the University of Leiden. He wrote for newspapers including Mare, Deng, De Revisor, De Standaard, and Dif.
Víctor Montoya (1958) — Víctor Montoya is a Bolivian writer, cultural journalist, and pedagogue. Imprisoned by the dictatorship in his native Bolivia, he became an exile following a campaign by Amnesty International in 1977.
Berkeley Breathed (1957) — Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips Bloom County, Outland, and Opus. Bloom County earned Breathed the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1987.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.