October 19 in Literary History: Writers Born & Died

Writers born on October 19

Born	Writer	Known as
1988	Markiyan Kamysh	Ukrainian novelist
1966	Dimitris Lyacos	Greek writer and playwright (born 1966)
1966	David Vann (writer)	American writer (born 1966)
1962	Tracy Chevalier	American-British novelist (born 1962)
1960	Susan Straight	American writer (born 1960)
1955	Dan Gutman	American children's writer
1948	James Howard Kunstler	American writer, social critic, blogger
1947	Giorgio Cavazzano	Italian cartoonist
1946	Philip Pullman	English author (born 1946)
1946	Keith Reid	English lyricist and songwriter (1946–2023)
1943	L. E. Modesitt Jr.	American science fiction and fantasy writer (born 1943)
1942	Andrew Vachss	American writer and lawyer (1942–2021)
1931	Ed Emberley	American artist and illustrator (born 1931)
1931	John le Carré	Irish-British novelist and former spy (1931–2020)
1930	Mavis Nicholson	Welsh writer and broadcaster (1930–2022)
1921	George Nader	American actor and writer (1921–2002)
1918	Russell Kirk	American political theorist and writer (1918–1994)
1913	Vinicius de Moraes	Brazilian poet and lyricist (1913–1980)
1910	Paul Robert (lexicographer)	French lexicographer and publisher
1899	Miguel Ángel Asturias	Guatemalan writer and poet-diplomat (1899-1974)
1895	Lewis Mumford	American scholar and writer (1895–1990)
1879	Emma Bell Miles	American poet
1784	Leigh Hunt	English critic, essayist and poet (1784–1859)
1720	John Woolman	American Quaker preacher and writer
1605	Thomas Browne	English polymath and writer (1605–1682)

Writers who died on October 19

Died	Writer	Known as
2017	Umberto Lenzi	Italian director and writer (1931–2017)
2014	Raphael Ravenscroft	British musician, composer, and author (1954–2014)
2013	Mikihiko Renjō	Japanese writer (1948–2013)
2011	Kakkanadan	Indian Malayalam-language writer (1935–2011)
2007	Jan Wolkers	Dutch sculptor and writer (1925–2007)
2003	Margaret Murie	American naturalist and author
1999	Nathalie Sarraute	20th century French writer and lawyer
1964	Nettie Palmer	Australian poet, essayist and literary critic
1960	Hjalmar Dahl	Swedish-speaking Finnish journalist, translator and author (born 1891)
1950	Edna St. Vincent Millay	American poet (1892–1950)
1945	N. C. Wyeth	American illustrator and painter (1882–1945)
1936	Lu Xun	Chinese novelist and essayist (1881–1936)
1914	Robert Hugh Benson	British Catholic priest and writer (1871–1914)
1842	Aleksey Koltsov	Russian poet
1682	Thomas Browne	English polymath and writer (1605–1682)
1678	Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten	Painter and writer from the Northern Netherlands

Literary events on October 19

Year	Event
1953	Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is published.
1936	New York World-Telegram reporter Herbert Ekins won a race against two other New York newspaper journalists to travel around the world on commercial airline flights. He accomplished the feat in 18 ½ days. His opponents were New York Evening Journal reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, who finished in second place, and New York Times reporter Leo Kieran.
1847	The novel Jane Eyre is published in London.
1752	The Pennsylvania Gazette published a statement by Benjamin Franklin describing a kite experiment (depicted) to determine the electrical nature of lightning.

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Markiyan Kamysh (1988) — Markiyan Kamysh is a Ukrainian novelist, best known for his works about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its environs.

Dimitris Lyacos (1966) — Dimitris Lyacos is a Greek writer. He is the author of the composite novel Until the Victim Becomes our Own and the Poena Damni trilogy.

David Vann (writer) (1966) — David Vann is an American novelist and short story writer, and was formerly a professor of creative writing at the University of Warwick in England. Vann received a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, a Wallace Stegner fellow, and a John L'Heureux fellow.

October 19 in literary history

Writers born on October 19

Writers who died on October 19

Literary events on October 19

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Sources & data