October 25 in Literary History: Writers Born & Died

Writers born on October 25

Born	Writer	Known as
1982	Victoria Francés	Spanish illustrator
1975	Zadie Smith	British writer (born 1975)
1971	Elif Shafak	Turkish novelist, essayist and women's rights activist (born 1971)
1969	Samantha Bee	Canadian-American comedic talk show host, actress and writer
1964	Michael Boatman	American actor and writer (born 1964)
1956	Stephen Leather	British author (born 1956)
1955	Gale Anne Hurd	American film producer and screenwriter
1955	Leena Lander	Finnish author (born 1955)
1952	Tove Nilsen	Norwegian writer (born 1952)
1945	Peter Ledger	Australian cartoonist, artist, and illustrator
1945	Krzysztof Piesiewicz	Polish lawyer, screenwriter and politician (1945–2026)
1945	David S. Ward	American screenwriter and film director
1941	Anne Tyler	American novelist (born 1941)
1934	Carlos Sherman	Uruguayan-born Belarusian-Spanish writer and human rights activist
1930	Harold Brodkey	American short story writer and novelist (1930–1996)
1929	Peter Rühmkorf	German writer (1929–2008)
1926	Bo Carpelan	Finnish writer (1926–2011)
1914	John Berryman	American poet and scholar (1914–1972)
1904	Cemal Reşit Rey	Turkish composer, pianist, script writer and conductor (1904–1985)
1902	Carlo Gnocchi	Italian priest, educator and writer
1894	Âşık Veysel	Turkish poet (1894–1973)
1885	Sam M. Lewis	American singer and lyricist (1885–1959)
1882	Theodora Agnes Peck	Female American author and poet from Vermont
1875	Carolyn Sherwin Bailey	American writer (1875–1961)
1870	Elsa Reger	German writer (1870–1951)
1864	Toktogul Satylganov	Kyrgyz poet and singer (1864–1933)
1852	Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak	Russian author
1848	Karl Emil Franzos	Austrian writer (1848–1904)
1803	Maria Doolaeghe	Flemish writer
1800	Maria Jane Jewsbury	English writer and poet (1800–1833)
1795	John P. Kennedy	American novelist and politician (1795–1870)
1767	Benjamin Constant	Swiss-French politician and writer (1767–1830)

Writers who died on October 25

Died	Writer	Known as
2010	Vesna Parun	Croatian poet
1989	Mary McCarthy (American writer)	American novelist and political activist (1912–1989)
1980	Sahir Ludhianvi	Indian poet (1921–1980)
1976	Raymond Queneau	French novelist and poet (1903–1976)
1967	Margaret Ayer Barnes	American dramatist
1957	Lord Dunsany	Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist (1878–1957)
1938	Alfonsina Storni	Argentine poet (1892–1938)
1924	Ziya Gökalp	Turkish writer and journalist (1876–1924)
1920	Terence MacSwiney	Irish writer and politician (1879–1920)
1902	Frank Norris	American journalist and novelist (1870–1902)
1889	Émile Augier	French dramatist (1820–1889)
1400	Geoffrey Chaucer	English writer (1343–1400)

Literary events on October 25

Year	Event
1924	The Zinoviev letter, which Zinoviev himself denied writing, is published in the Daily Mail; the Labour party would later blame this letter for the Conservatives' landslide election win four days later.
1924	The Daily Mail published the Zinoviev letter, a hoax purported to be a directive from Moscow to increase communist agitation.
1920	Irish playwright and politician Terence MacSwiney died after a hunger strike in Brixton Prison, bringing the Irish struggle for independence to international attention.

Featured

Victoria Francés (1982) — Victoria Francés is a Spanish illustrator.

Zadie Smith (1975) — Zadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth, published in 2000, was an immediate best-seller and won a number of awards. Smith became a tenured professor in the creative writing faculty of New York University in September 2010.

Elif Shafak (1971) — Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist, and activist.

October 25 in literary history

Writers born on October 25

Writers who died on October 25

Literary events on October 25

Featured

Sources & data