On this day
May 10 in literary history
Literary history for May 10: 13 writers born, 9 writers who died and 2 literary events from 1604 to 2010. Born on this day: John Scalzi, Rick Santorum, Marie-France Pisier.
Writers born on May 10
| Born | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | John Scalzi | American science fiction writer (born 1969) |
| 1958 | Rick Santorum | American politician, attorney and author (born 1958) |
| 1944 | Marie-France Pisier | French actress, screenwriter and director (1944–2011) |
| 1933 | Barbara Taylor Bradford | British novelist (1933–2024) |
| 1931 | Ettore Scola | Italian screenwriter and film director (1931–2016) |
| 1929 | Antonine Maillet | Canadian writer and scholar (1929–2025) |
| 1886 | Olaf Stapledon | English novelist and philosopher (1886–1950) |
| 1876 | Ivan Cankar | Slovene writer and political activist (1876–1918) |
| 1843 | Benito Pérez Galdós | Spanish realist novelist (1843–1920) |
| 1841 | James Gordon Bennett Jr. | American publisher (1841–1918) |
| 1760 | Johann Peter Hebel | German writer (1760–1826) |
| 1760 | Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle | French writer and composer (1760–1836) |
| 1604 | Jean Mairet | Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (died 1686) |
Writers who died on May 10
| Died | Writer | Known as |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Frank Frazetta | American illustrator and painter (1928–2010) |
| 2002 | Kaifi Azmi | Indian Urdu poet (1919–2002) |
| 1999 | Shel Silverstein | American poet, cartoonist, writer, and songwriter (1930–1999) |
| 1990 | Walker Percy | American writer (1916–1990) |
| 1989 | Dominik Tatarka | Slovak writer (1913–1989) |
| 1988 | Shen Congwen | Chinese writer (1902–1988) |
| 1982 | Peter Weiss | Swedish-German playwright and author (1916–1982) |
| 1960 | Yury Olesha | Russian author (1899–1960) |
| 1889 | Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin | Russian author and satirist (1826–1889) |
Literary events on May 10
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1967 | The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man. |
| 1933 | Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings. |
Featured
John Scalzi (1969) — John Michael Scalzi II is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series which won the Hugo Award for Best Series, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998.
Rick Santorum (1958) — Richard John Santorum is an American politician, attorney, author, and former CNN political commentator, who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007. He was the Senate's third-ranking Republican during the final six years of his tenure.
Marie-France Pisier (1944) — Marie-France Pisier was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave, and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Sources & data
- Compiled from Wikipedia’s “On this day” selections (CC BY-SA 4.0), filtered for writers and literary events.