Writers & Literary Figures

Writers

Yasushi Inoue

Inoue Yasushi (1907-1991) was a Japanese novelist renowned for his historical epics set along the Si

Ryotaro Shiba

Shiba Ryotaro (1923-1996) was Japan's most popular historical novelist, whose sweeping narratives li

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was a French novelist and dramatist whose adventure masterpieces - 'The

Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was a Lebanese-American poet, philosopher, and artist whose book 'The Prop

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is universally regarded as the greatest writer in the English langua

Ichiyo Higuchi

Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896) was a pioneering Japanese woman writer whose 'miracle fourteen months' of

Yasunari Kawabata

Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972) was the first Japanese author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature

Mori Ogai

Mori Ogai (1862-1922) was a Japanese novelist, translator, and army surgeon-general whose dual caree

Seicho Matsumoto

Matsumoto Seicho (1909-1992) revolutionized Japanese mystery fiction by grounding it in social reali

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German novelist whose works 'Buddenbrooks,' 'The Magic Mountain,' 'Dea

Mark Twain

Mark Twain (1835-1910), born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was the father of American literature whose m

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American novelist and journalist whose spare, declarative prose

Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) is universally recognized as the founder of modern Russian literature

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-Swiss novelist and poet whose works - 'Siddhartha,' 'Steppenw

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright universally recognized as the father of modern r

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was an Indian Bengali poet, novelist, musician, and philosopher who

Rumi

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) was a Persian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic whose poetry of div

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, whose works - 'Oliver Tw

Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose six completed works - including 'Pride and Pre

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a French poet, novelist, and political figure whose epic works 'Les Mise

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was the supreme figure of German literature and one of the la

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet whose 'Divine Comedy' - a journey through Hell, Purg

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright whose 'Don Quixote' is

George Orwell

George Orwell (1903-1950) was a British essayist and novelist whose works 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, and moral thinker whose works 'War and

Junichiro Tanizaki

Tanizaki Junichiro (1886-1965) was a Japanese novelist celebrated for his exploration of sexuality,

Akiko Yosano

Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) was a revolutionary Japanese poet whose collection 'Tangled Hair' liberated

Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was a British modernist novelist and essayist whose experimental works -

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet whose revolutionary collection 'Leaves of Grass' broke

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 - c. 1014/1025) was a Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting whose 'The Ta

Natsume Soseki

Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is Japan's most celebrated modern novelist, known for masterworks such as

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, and wit whose works - 'The Picture of Dor

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist and chronicler of the Jazz Age whose master

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short story master whose works - 'The Cherry

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) was a French aviator and writer whose fable 'The Little Prince'

Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927) was a Japanese master of the short story whose works 'Rashomon' and

Yukio Mishima

Mishima Yukio (1925-1970) was a Japanese novelist, playwright, and nationalist whose extraordinary b

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a French poet and critic whose collection 'Les Fleurs du Mal' (Th

Osamu Dazai

Dazai Osamu (1909-1948) was a Japanese novelist whose confessional masterpiece 'No Longer Human' rem

Atsushi Nakajima

Nakajima Atsushi (1909-1942) was a Japanese writer whose masterpiece 'The Moon Over the Mountain' re

Shusaku Endo

Endo Shusaku (1923-1996) was a Japanese Catholic novelist whose masterpiece 'Silence' explored the p

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer who invented the detective story, pioneered scien

Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist whose epic 'Moby-Dick' - a commercial failure i

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014) was a Colombian novelist and journalist whose masterpiece 'One Hu

Lu Xun

Lu Xun (1881-1936) is universally recognized as the father of modern Chinese literature. His short s

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist whose psychological masterpieces - 'Crime and P

Kenji Miyazawa

Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933) was a Japanese poet and children's author whose fantastical tales - inclu

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a German-language writer from Prague whose nightmarish novels and storie