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You can find and buy the books relating to our author birthdays at the LitStack Bookshop on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.

Here are seven author birthdays for this week.

Check out which authors are your favorites, and buy a book by the author who shares your day or the birthday of friend.

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Margery Allingham – May 20

Born May 20, Margery Allingham was an English writer during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. She was one of the Queens of Crime, standing alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. At 19, she made her literary debut with Blackkerchief Dick. However, in 1929 she truly made her mark with The Crime at Black Dudley, a novel that catapulted her into the limelight. In a departure, Allingham shared a slice of her life in Essex during a tense period in 1941 through The Oaken Heart, her non-fiction account of local preparations for an anticipated German invasion.

Allingham battled breast cancer until her passing at Severalls Hospital in Colchester, England. She was 62 years old. Her legacy lives on through her work; her last Campion novel, Cargo of Eagles, reached her fans in 1968 thanks to her devoted husband who completed it following her wishes. Throughout the 1970s, readers were treated to collections of Allingham’s stories, featuring the beloved Albert Campion and others, ensuring that her creative spirit continued to inspire and entertain.

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Harold Robbins – May 21

Born May 21, Harold Robbins was a prolific American novelist whose popular stories made him one of the most successful authors globally. With more than 25 best-sellers, Robbins sold over 750 million books across 32 languages. Before finding his calling in writing, Robbins held various jobs such as an errand boy, a runner for bookies, and a grocery store inventory clerk. In 1940, he joined Universal Pictures where he started as a clerk and climbed the ranks to become an executive.

Harold Robbins lived a charismatic playboy lifestyle and often grabbed the spotlight. His life story blurred the lines between reality and fiction, more so than the novels he penned. He outsold J.K. Rowling in terms of books, managing to both earn and spend $50 million throughout his life. His contributions played a pivotal role in shaping America’s sexual and social landscape. Robbins’ journey came to an end at 81 when he passed away from respiratory heart failure in Palm Springs, leaving behind a legacy as intriguing as his tales.

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Peter Matthiessen – May 22

Born on May 22, Peter Matthiessen was a multifaceted American talent who excelled as a novelist, naturalist, and wilderness writer. Not only did he share his wisdom as a zen teacher, but he also led an intriguing life as a CIA agent. As one of the minds behind the founding of The Paris Review, Matthiessen made history by being the only author to clinch the National Book Award in both fiction (for Shadow Country) and nonfiction (with The Snow Leopard). Interestingly, during his stint with the CIA, he used The Paris Review as his cover story.

Peter Matthiessen, known for his exceptional talent in both fiction and non-fiction, always saw himself primarily as a novelist. In late 2012, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and sadly, he passed away at his home in Sagaponack, New York.

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Margaret Fuller – May 23

Born May 23, Margaret Fuller carved her niche as a pioneering American journalist, an insightful editor and critic, a talented translator, and a fervent advocate for women’s rights, closely associated with the transcendentalism movement that swept America. Notably, she broke new ground as the first female war correspondent in America and set a precedent in journalism as its first full-time book reviewer. Her seminal work, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, stands as a cornerstone of feminist literature in the United States. Additionally, Margaret Fuller holds the distinguished honor of being the first woman to access Harvard’s library.

On a sea journey back to the United States that spanned five weeks aboard the ship Elizabeth, an unfortunate incident occurred on July 19, 1850. The ship hit a sandbar 100 yards off of Fire Island, New York. While many passengers made the decision to swim towards safety, Margaret Fuller did not join them. Following a large wave, an observer from the crew reported that Fuller was nowhere in sight. Tragically, neither her body nor her husband’s was ever found.

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William Trevor – May 24

Born May 24, William Trevor was a towering figure in Irish literature. Renowned for his exceptional talent as a novelist, playwright, and master of the short story, Trevor holds a place of honor among the literary giants. His contributions are often cited as some of the finest in English short story writing. Despite a rocky start with his debut novel A Standard of Behaviour in 1958, which was later disavowed by him, Trevor’s journey took a positive turn. Winning the Hawthornden Prize for The Old Boys propelled him to dedicate himself to writing. 

Trevor captured the prestigious Whitbread Prize not once but three times during his career. Additionally, he was a contender for the Booker Prize on five occasions, with his nomination for Love and Summer in 2009 being his final nod. Trevor passed away in his sleep at the age of 88, in Shobrooke, England.

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John Gregory Dunne – May 25

Born May 25, John Gregory Dunne was a notable American author. From a young age, Dunne struggled with a stutter, which led him to embrace writing as his primary mode of expression. His journey into the literary world began at Time magazine in journalism. This initial step opened up avenues in criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays for him. A significant part of his career involved collaborating with his wife, Joan Didion. Together, they undertook various projects for book publishers and magazines, traveled on journalistic ventures, and developed a working rhythm that they maintained over four decades.

A prolific author, Dunne penned numerous novels throughout his career. Notably, he wrote True Confessions, which draws inspiration from the infamous Black Dahlia murder case, and Dutch Shea, Jr. Sadly, Trevor passed away in Manhattan due to a heart attack. At the time of his passing, his latest novel Nothing Lost was in the process of being prepared for publication; it was eventually released in 2004.

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Robert W. Chambers – May 26

Born May 26, Robert W. Chambers dabbled both in art and in the craft of writing fiction. His most notable achievement is his collection of short stories called The King in Yellow. The book contains famously weird short stories, all tied together by a mythical play also named The King in Yellow—a text so powerful, it’s said to drive anyone who reads it completely mad. This masterpiece stands among the greats of American supernatural fiction. Chambers ventured into science fiction too with works like Police!!!, a captivating story about a zoologist’s encounters with monsters.

The author behind the intriguing novel The Man They Hanged, delved into the life of Captain Kidd. Through his narrative, Chambers presented a compelling case suggesting that Kidd was more of a scapegoat for the British government than an actual pirate. Chambers died December 16, 1933, three days after having intestinal surgery.

Other LitStack Resources

Be sure to look at other Author Birthdays, a weekly feature on LitStack from contributing writer Sharon Browning, and be sure and support independent bookstores – buy a book today at LitStack Bookshop, with tons of author birthday titles on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.

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