Here are seven author birthdays for this week. Check out which authors are your favorites, and find out who shares your day. You can find the books relating to our author picks at our bookshop, on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.
In This Week’s Author Birthdays:
Jan Morris – October 2
On this day, October 2, in 1926, Jan Morris was born in Clevedon, Somerset, England. Born James Humphry Morris, she was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer (including being with the historic 1953 British Mount Everest expedition). Married in 1949 to Elizabeth Tuckness and having five children, she began transitioning in 1964, detailing her transition in 1974’s Conundrum, one of the first autobiographies to discuss gender reassignment.
A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, receiving the Glyndŵr Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales in 1996 and accepting appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (although she was a Welsh nationalist at heart), in 2005, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for a Lifetime’s Distinguished Service to Literature. She died in 2020 at age 94, her wife Elizabeth and their children at her side.
Thomas Wolfe – October 3
On this day, October 3, in 1900, American novelist Thomas Wolfe was born in Asheville, North Carolina. One of the first writers to focus on autobiographical fiction, many of his works (including his most enduring novel, Look Homeward, Angel) were based on his family and on life in Asheville (which infuriated the townsfolk, first when their thinly veiled facsimiles were included in a published work, and then later when those characters were excluded from following stories).
Tragically dying at age 37 of miliary tuberculosis of the brain, he left behind a large amount of papers and journals, including two complete novels; over half of his works have been published posthumously.
Anne Rice – October 4
On this day, October 4, in 1941, Anne Rice was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Best known for her gothic fiction, most famously in the 10 book series of The Vampire Chronicles (starting with 1976’s Interview with the Vampire and concluding with 2003’s Blood Canticle), she also has written Christian literature, and erotica under the pen names of Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure.
Interestingly enough, she was christened as “Howard Allen Francis O’Brien” (her father’s name, given to her by a “bohemian” mother) but has been known as “Anne” since her first day of school, when her teacher asked her name and she replied, “Anne”, because she thought it was a pretty name. She died of complications from a stroke in 2021; she was 80. One of her lesser known but most effective series is The Mayfair Witches series.
Edward P. Jones – October 5
On this day, October 5, in 1950, Edward P. Jones was born in Washington, D.C. Some of the accolades he has gathered for his work, notably Lost in the City and The Known World, include the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critic’s Circle award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, a MacArthur genius grant and the Lannan Literary Award.
He grew up in abject poverty in a devastated family: he barely knew his father, a Jamaican immigrant; his beloved, illiterate mother died of lung cancer over 40 years ago; his sister was killed by an angry driver; his brother has been institutionalized with a severe mental handicap for most of his life. His is an amazing story that can be read in his stories and novels. Today, he turns 73.
David Brin – October 6
On this day, October 6, in 1950, David Brin was born in Glendale, California. His works of “hard” science fiction have won him numerous awards, including multiple Hugo and Locus awards and a Nebula Award, and his nonfiction book, The Transparent Society, won the Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association.
An astrophysicist with a Masters in applied physics and a PhD in space science, he serves on the advisory boards of NASA’s Innovative and Advanced Concepts group and the Museum of Science Fiction. Among other pursuits, he designed the RPG “Tribes” and wrote the storyline for the video game “Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future”. Whew! Today he turns 73.
Diane Ackerman – October 7
On this day, October 7, in 1948, Diane Ackerman was born in Waukegan, Illinois. A budding naturalist from an early age, 2015 her nonfiction work, The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us, won the National Outdoor Book Award in the Natural History Literature category and PEN New England’s Henry David Thoreau Prize for nature writing.
She was a finalist for both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award for her memoir, One Hundred Names for Love, and her 2008 true-life story, The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story received an Orion Book Award and in 2017 was made into a major motion picture. Today, Diane turns 75.
Frank Herbert – October 8
On this day, October 8, in 1920, Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington. Although he wrote (and co-wrote) numerous short stories and novels, it was his science fiction epic, Dune, and its five sequels that brought him fame, if not fortune. Dune won the 1965 Nebula Award and shared the 1966 Hugo Award; it came about when then-journalist Herbert was assigned to write a magazine article on Oregonian sand dunes.
The magazine article was never produced, but from that research, a classic was born. The novel enjoyed a resurgence in 1984 due to the film adaption by David Lynch, and again last year due to the highly regarded remake by Denis Villeneuve. Herbert died in 1986 of a heart attack following surgery for pancreatic cancer; he was 65.
Other LitStack Resources
Be sure and look at our other Author Birthdays, a weekly feature on LitStack from contributing writer Sharon Browning, and also look at our LitStack Bookshop, with tons of titles on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.
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