An incomplete listing of author birthdays by date. Links will take you to posts on this blog.
Jan 2: Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) (Foundation series; I, Robot)
Jan 3: J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) (The Hobbit; The Lord of
the Rings)
Jan 12: Jack London (1876–1916) (Call of the Wild; White Fang)
Jan 13: Michael Bond (b. 1926) (Paddington Bear series)
Jan 14: Hugh Lofting (1886–1947) (Dr. Doolittle)
Jan 18: A. A. Milne (1882–1956) (Winnie the Pooh; The House at Pooh
Corner)
Arthur Ransome (1884–1967) (the Swallows & Amazons books)
Jan 19: Edgar Allen Poe (1809–1849)
Jan 25: Robert Burns (1759–1796), Scots poet
Jan 26: Mary Mapes Dodge (1831–1905) (Hans Brinker and the Silver
Skates)
Shannon Hale (1974) (The Princess Academy; The Goose Girl;
River Secrets; Palace of Stone)
Jan 27: Lewis Carroll (1832–1989) (Alice in Wonderland; Through the
Looking Glass)
Jan 30: Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007)
Feb 1: Langston Hughes
(1902–1967)
Feb 2: Charles Darwin (1809–1882) (On the Origin of Species)
Feb 7: Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) (Little House books)
Feb 8: Jules Verne (1828–1905) (the father of science fiction)
Feb 10: E.L. Konigsburg (b. 1930) (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.
Basil E. Frankweiler)
Feb 11: Jane Yolen (b. 1939) (Owl Moon; Catwings)
Feb 12: Judy Blume (b. 1938) (Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing)
Feb 15: Norman Bridwell (b. 1928) (creator of Clifford the Big Red Dog)
Feb 17: Andre Norton (1912–2005) (the Witch World novels; The Zero
Stone)
Feb 19: Louis Slobodkin (1903–1975) (author; illustrator of The
Hundred Dresses, Many Moons)
Feb 24: Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859) (the younger Grimm brother)
Feb 27: Henry W. Longfellow (1807–1882)
Feb 28: Sir John Tenniel (1820–1914) (illustrator of Alice in
Wonderland)
Mar 2:
Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel, 1904–1991)
Mar 9: Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) (The Wind in the Willows;
The Reluctant Dragon)
Mar 11: Ezra Jack Keats (1916–1983) (The Snowy Day)
Wanda Gag (1893–1946) (Millions of Cats)
Mar 13: Ellen Raskin (1928–1984) (The Westing Game)
Mar 20: Lois Lowry (1937) (Number the Stars; The Giver)
Mar 23: Eleanor Cameron (1912–1996) (the Mushroom Planet books)
Mar 26: Robert Frost (1874–1963)
Mar 30: Anna Sewell (1820–1878) (Black Beauty)
Mar 31: Andrew Lang (1844–1912) (a number of fairy tale collections)
April 1:
Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011) (The Dragonriders of Pern and
Talents series)
April 2: Hans Christian Anderson (1805–1875)
Washington Irving (1783–1859)
April 9: Margaret Peterson Haddix (b. 1964) (Among the Hidden series)
April 12:
Beverly Cleary (b. 1916) (Ramona)
April 13: Marguerite Henry (1902–1997) (Misty of Chincoteague; King
of the Wind)
April 16: Gertrude Chandler Warren (the Boxcar mysteries)
April 23: Ngaio Marsh (the Inspector Alleyn mysteries);
William Shakespeare: first tribute; second tribute
April 24: Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984) (Gentian Hill; Pilgrim’s Inn;
A City of Bells)
April 25: Maud Hart Lovelace (1892–1980) (the Besty-Tacy series)
May 9:
Richard Adams (b. 1920) (Watership Down)
James M. Barrie (1860–1937) (Peter Pan)
William Pene DuBois (1916–1993) (The Twenty-One Balloons)
Eleanor Estes (1906–1988) (The Moffats, Ginger Pye, The
Hundred Dresses)
May 11: Sheila Burnford (1918–1944) (The Incredible Journey)
May 12: Edward Lear (1812–1888)
Farley Mowat (b. 1921) (Never Cry Wolf)
May 14: George Selden (1929–1989) (The Cricket of Times Square)
May 15: L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) (Oz books)
May 16: Margret Rey (1906–1996) (Curious George co-author)
May 18: Irene Hunt (1907–2001) (Across Five Aprils; Up a Road Slowly)
May 20: Margery Allingham (1904–1966) (Campion mysteries)
May 22: Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) (Sherlock Holmes mysteries)
May 23: Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952) (The Runaway Bunny;
Goodnight Moon)
Susan Cooper (b. 1935) (the Dark is Rising quintet)
Scott O’Dell (1903–1989) (Island of the Blue Dolphins)
May 27: Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
June 2:
Norton Juster (b. 1929) (The Phantom Tollbooth)
June 3: Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999) (Darkover series; Avalon
series)
June 5: Richard Scarry (1919–1994)
June 6: Cynthia Rylant (b. 1954) (Henry & Mudge books;
Mr. Putter and Tabby books)
June 10: Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) (Where the Wild Things Are;
Chicken Soup with Rice; illustrator of Little Bear) (obituary/tribute)
June 12: Johanna Spyri (1827–1901) (Heidi)
June 13: Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries)
June 14: Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
June 15: Brian Jacques (1939–2011) (Redwall series)
June 18: Chris Van Allsburg (b.1949) (The Polar Express; Jumanji)
June 20: Catherine Aird (b.1930) (Sloan & Crosby mysteries)
Edward Eager (1911–1964) (Half Magic; Magic By the Lake;
The Time Garden)
June 24: Mercedes Lackey (b.1950) (the Valdemar novels; the Elemental
Masters series; and many other fantasy books)
June 25: Eric Carle (1929) (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Dorothy Gilman (1923–2012) (Mrs. Pollifax mysteries, including
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax)
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) (The Good Earth; The Big Wave)
June 26: Walter Farley (1922–1989) (The Black Stallion and its sequels)
Charlotte Zolotow (b.1915) (Over and Over)
June 27: Helen Keller (1880–1968)
June 29: Antoine du Sainte-Exupery (1900–1944) (The Little Prince)
July 1:
Jean Craighead George (b.1919) (My Side of the Mountain)
July 4: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)
July 7: David Eddings (1931–2009) (the Belgariad and Mallorean series)
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) (Stranger in a Strange Land;
Citizen of the Galaxy)
July 11: E.B. White (1899–1985) (Charlotte’s Web; Stuart Little;
The Trumpet of the Swan)
July 14: Peggy Parish (1927–1988) (the Amelia Bedelia books)
July 15: Clement C. Moore (1779–1863) (“Twas the Night Before
Christmas”)
July 25: Josephine Tey (1896–1952) (Alan Grant mysteries, including
The Daughter of Time)
July 26: Jan Berenstain (1923–2012) (co-author of the Berenstain
Bears books)
July 28: Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) (The Tale of Peter Rabbit)
July 31: J. K. Rowling (b.1965) (the Harry Potter series)
(It’s also Harry’s birthday!)
Aug 9:
Enid Blyton (1897–1968) (over 600 British children’s books)
Aug 15: E. (Edith) Nesbit (1858–1924) (The Railway Children; the
Bastable and Psammead series)
Aug 28: Tasha Tudor (1915–2008) (illustrator)
Aug 30: Laurent de Brunhoff (b.1925) (son; continued the Babar series)
Virginia Lee Burton (1909–1968) (The Little House)
Mary W. Shelley (1797–1851) (Frankenstein)
Sept 2:
Joan Aiken (1924–2004) (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and
sequels; the Armitage books)
Sept 13: Roald Dahl (1916–1990) (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;
James and the Giant Peach)
Else Holmelund Minarik (b.1920) (the Little Bear books)
Sept 15: Agatha Christie (1890–1976) (Poirot, Miss Marple, and
other mysteries)
Robert McCloskey (1914–2003) (Make Way for Ducklings;
Blueberriesfor Sal; Homer Price)
Sept 17: Elizabeth Enright (1909–1968) (The Saturdays and its sequels;
Gone-AwayLake)
Mary Stewart (b.1916) (The Arthurian saga; Airs Above the
Ground; Touch Not the Cat)
Sept 19: Rachel Field (1894–1942) (Hitty: Her First Hundred Years)
Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) (children’s book illustrator)
Sept 21: H. G. Wells (1866-–1946) (The War of the Worlds; The Time
Machine)
Sept 28: Ellis Peters (1913–1995) (the Brother Cadfael mysteries; the
George & Dominic Felse mysteries)
Sept 29: Stan Berenstain (1923–2005) (co-author of the Berenstain
Bears books)
Oct 4:
Robert Lawson (1892–1957) (Rabbit Hill; Ben & Me; illustrator
of Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Ferdinand the Bull)
Oct 7:
Susan Jeffers (b.1942) (children’s book illustrator of The Midnight
Farm)
Oct 8: Frank Herbert (1920–1986) (Dune and its sequels)
Oct 11: Jessica Day George (b.1976) (Princess of the Midnight Ball;
Tuesdays at the Castle)
Oct 14: Lois Lenski (1914–1974) (Strawberry Girl)
Winnie the Pooh’s birthday
Oct 16: Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) (The Importance of Being Earnest)
Oct 18: Katherine Kurtz (b.1944) (the Deryni novels; the Adept series)
Oct 19: Philip Pullman (b.1946) (His Dark Materials trilogy; Ruby in
the Smoke)
Oct 21: Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) (the Earthsea trilogy; The Left Hand
of Darkness)
Oct 27: Enid Bagnold (1889–1981) (National Velvet)
Oct 31: Dick Francis (1920–2010) (British mysteries, usually related to
horse racing)
Nov 8:
Bram Stoker (1847–1912) (Dracula)
Nov 13: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) (Kidnapped; Treasure
Island)
Nov 14: Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) (Pippi Longstocking)
Nov 16: Robin McKinley (b.1952) (Beauty; The Blue Sword;
Spindle’s End)
Nov 21: Elizabeth Speare George (1908–1994) (The Witch of Blackbird
Pond)
Nov 24: Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) (The Secret Garden;
A Little Princess)
Nov 29: Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) (Little Women; Eight Cousins)
Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007) (A Wrinkle in Time; A Ring
of Endless Light)
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) (the Chronicles of Narnia)
Nov 30: Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) (the Anne of Green
Gables books)
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) (Gulliver’s Travels)
Mark Twain (1835–1920) (Tom Sawyer; The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn)
Dec 1:
Jan Brett (b.1949) (children’s author/illustrator: The Trouble
with Trolls; Hedgie’s Surprise)
Dec 2: David Macaulay (b.1946) (Castle; Cathedral; The Way
Things Work)
Dec 8: James Thurber (1894–1961)
Dec 9: Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937) (father; original writer of Babar)
Dec 10: Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
Cornelia Funke (b.1958) (Inkheart; The Thief Lord)
Rumer Godden (1907–1998) (children: The Doll’s House;
adult: In This House of Brede)
George MacDonald (1824–1905) (The Princess and the Goblin;
The Light Princess)
Mary Norton (1903–1992) (The Borrowers books)
Ernest Shepard (1879–1976) (illustrator of Winnie the Pooh)
Dec 13: Tamora Pierce (b.1954) (the Alanna, Wild Magic, and Protector
of the Small series)
Dec 14: Rosemary Sutcliff (1920–1992) (The Eagle of the Ninth and
other YA historicals)
Dec 16: Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) (2001: A Space Odyssey)
Dec 19: Eleanor H. Porter (1868–1920) (Pollyanna)
Dec 24: Noel Streatfeild (1895–1986) (Ballet Shoes; Theatre Shoes)
Dec 30: Rudyard Kipling (1856–1936) (Kim; The Jungle Book;
Just-So Stories)
Mercer Mayer (b.1943) (children’s author & illustrator)
