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Here are seven author birthdays for this week.
Check out which authors are your favorites, and find out who shares your day.
In This Week’s Author Birthdays:
Rod Serling – December 25
On this day, December 25, in 1924, Rod Serling was born in Syracuse, New York. A screenwriter, playwright, television producer and narrator, he was well known for his science-fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone, which ran from 1959 to 1964. He won a 1955 Emmy Award for his script Patterns, a 1957 Emmy for his script Requiem for a Heavyweight, and a 1959 Emmy for The Twilight Zone; he was also co-author of The Planet of the Apes.
He was also active in politics, both on and off the screen, and was known as the “angry young man” of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues, including censorship, racism, and war. He died of a heart attack at age 50.
Henry Miller – December 26
On this day, December 26, in 1891, Henry Miller was born in New York City. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism through works including Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York and Paris (and were originally banned in the United States).
His works were a major influence on the Beat Generation of writers, most notably Jack Kerouac. He died in 1980 at the age of 88, of circulatory complications.
Chris Abani – December 27
On this day, December 27, in 1966, Chris Abani was born in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He published his first novel, Masters of the Board, there at age 16 – an allegorical political thriller based on a coup carried out just before it was written, which landed him in prison for the first time. His writings had him jailed three times – the last time on death row before bribes bought his release and he moved to the UK.
He has been awarded a PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2001 Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Today, he turns 57.
Stan Lee – December 28
On this day, December 28, in 1922, Stan Lee was born in (where else?) New York City. This comics writer, editor, publisher, media producer, actor, TV host and former chairman of Marvel Comics had dreamed since a young boy of writing the Great American Novel. While he may not have achieved that goal, he has indelibly stamped his impact on popular culture with creation of such great superhero icons as Iron Man, Thor, and the Avengers, Agent Peggy Carter, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Spider-Man, as well as being one of the industry’s most recognized and best loved “real life” celebrity.
He died in 2018 at age 95 but will live forever as an embedded force in our cultural landscape. Excelsior!
Vera Brittain – December 29
On this day, December 29, in 1893, Vera Brittain was born in Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Nurse, writer, feminist and pacifist, her best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth recounted her experiences during WWI and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism; her fiancé, two close friends, and brother were all killed in the war, losses that were to haunt her for the rest of her life. (A feature film based on the book was released in 2014 starring Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington and Taron Egerton.)
A regular speaker for the League of Nations Union and member of the Peace Pledge Union and Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, she died in 1970 at age 76 after four years of decline.
Rudyard Kipling – December 30
On this day, December 30, in 1865, Rudyard Kipling was born in Mumbai, India where his British father was a professor of architectural sculpture at an art school (he and his sister were sent back to England to stay with an aunt when Kipling was 6). This author of such classics as The Jungle Book, Just So Stories and Captains Courageous was the first English language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and, at age 42, was (and still is) the youngest ever recipient of that award.
Also an accomplished and popular poet, he reputedly turned down the post of Britain’s poet laureate after Tennyson’s death; he also refused a knighthood in the Order of Merit. He died of a perforated duodenal ulcer in 1936 at age 70.
Connie Willis – December 31
On this day, December 31, in 1945, beloved science fiction/fantasy writer Connie Willis was born in Denver, Colorado. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards—more major SF awards than any other writer—most recently the Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Awards for 2010’s Blackout/All Clear. (She was also the first author to win Hugo awards for all books in a series–the four-volume Oxford Time Travel series.)
She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011. Today, she turns 78.
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