Author Birthdays: March 14-24

We haven't done author birthdays for almost ten days now, so let's do a little catch-up.

March 14: Marguerite DeAngeli. (1889-1987) I have a friend to thank for her discovery as I managed to miss her growing up. But she is a delightful author and The Door in the Wall is one of those touching books worth reading many times over, even if you aren't in the targeted 8-11 age range.

March 15: William Lamb, Lawrence Sanders, and Heather Graham

March 16: Sid Fleishman, Alice Hoffman, and Sully Prudhomme. Also born on this day was Margaret Weis, who with her DragonLance Chronicles and Legends series proved that you really could create real literature out of a fantasy role-playing setting. Not that there have been many since to follow the example that she and Tracy Hickman set.

March 17: Pearl Buck (pictured to the right--portrait in the Library of Congress by photographer Arnold Genthe), Kate Greenaway, Penelope Lively, Zibby Oneal, and William Gibson.

March 18: John Updike and Joy Fielding

March 19: James Otis, Irving Wallace, Nikolai Gogol, and Philip Roth.

March 20: Ellen Conford, Lois Lowry, Mitsumasa Anno, and Pamela Sargent. Playwright Henrik Ibsen was also born on this day. Reading his works in high school, in particular The Doll's House and Enemy of the People was part of what turned me on to a lifelong love of dramatic literature.

March 21: Phyllis McGinley

March 22: Randolph Caldecott (the 18th century illustrator after whom the prestigious Caldecott Awards are named), Louis L'Amour, William Shatner (yes, we have to count him as an author as well as an actor), and James Patterson, the bestselling author who in his previous life as a marketing guru came up with the slogan, "I'm a Toys R' Us Kid."

March 23: Eleanor Cameron

March 24: Bill Cleaver and Dario Fo

Whew! That's a lot of birthdays.

posted by Book Help Web Editorial Team at 11:36 AM |