Margaret Atwood is a Canadian award-winning writer best known for her poetry, short-stories and novels such as The Circle Game, The Handmaid’s Tale, Snowbird and The Tent.
1895-1975
Roland Barthes was a French literary philosopher whose work influenced structuralism, semiotics and anthropology.
1915-1980
Robert Benchley was an American humorist, drama critic and film actor who is best known for his small roles in over 40 films, including How To Sleep.
1889-1945
1930-
1872-1950
André Breton was a French writer, editor and critic who was a key figure in the Dada and Surrealist art movements.
1896-1966
African-American poet Sterling Brown is best known for writing poetry distinctly rooted in folklore and authentic black dialect. His works, including Southern Road (1932), have been widely praised for their authenticity and phonetic spelling.
1901-1989
Anthony Burgess was an English novelist and composer best known for his novel A Clockwork Orange, which became a popular 1971 Stanley Kubrik film.
1917-1993
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet of the Romantic Movement, best known for his allegorical sea-faring poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
1772-1834
1903-1974
1898-1989
Jacques Derrida was an influential postmodern French philosopher who developed the analytic method known as Deconstruction.
1930-2004
James Dickey was a Poet Laureate and novelist best known for his 1970 book Deliverance.
1923-1997
1932-
Ralph Ellison was a 20th century African-American writer and scholar best known for his renowned, award-winning novel Invisible Man.
1914-1994
1844-1924
Margaret Fuller is best known for feminist writing and literary criticism in 19th century America.
1810-1850
1950-
British poet Robert Graves is best known for writing his first volumes of poetry, primarily about war, while serving at the Western Front during World War I.
1895-1985
1849-1903
Julia Kristeva is a psychoanalyst, critic and novelist, known for her writings in structuralist linguistics, psychoanalysis and philosophical feminism.
1941-
1880-1956
Prolific novelist Iris Murdoch won a Booker Prize for The Sea, the Sea. In 2001, she was portrayed by Kate Winslet and Judy Dench in the biographical film Iris.
1919-1999
1899-1977
American poet and critic Robert Pinksy is best known for writing about the significance of every-day experiences.
1940-
1688-1744
1901-1968
Jean-Paul Sartre was a 20th century intellectual, writer and activist who put forth pioneering ideas on existentialism.
1905-1980
Dame Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist, poet and literary critic best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
1918-2006
1902-1934
1905-1989
Max Weber was a 19th century German sociologist and one of the founders of modern sociology. He wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1905.
1864-1920