Nobel Prize for Literature

1. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Writer | Synnöve Solbakken

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born on December 8, 1832 in Kvikne, Norway. He was a writer, known for Fairy of Solbakken (1919), En glad gutt (1932) and Synnöve Solbakken (1934). He was married to Karoline Reimers. He died on April 26, 1910 in Paris, France.

2. José Echegaray y Eizaguirre

Writer | Lovers?

José Echegaray y Eizaguirre was born on April 19, 1832 in Madrid, Spain. José was a writer, known for Lovers? (1927), The Celebrated Scandal (1915) and The World and His Wife (1920). José died on September 14, 1916 in Madrid, Spain.

3. Frédéric Mistral

Writer | Mireille

Frédéric Mistral was born on September 8, 1830 in Maillane, Provence, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Mireille (1934), Mireille's Sincere Love (1909) and Mireille (1922). He was married to Marie Louise Aimée Rivière. He died on March 25, 1914 in Maillane, Provence, France.

4. Henryk Sienkiewicz

Writer | Quo Vadis

Henryk Sienkiewicz was born on May 5, 1846 in Wola Okrzejska, Poland, Russian Empire [now Wola Okrzejska, Lubelskie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Quo Vadis (1951), Na jasnym brzegu (1921) and Invasion 1700 (1962). He was married to Maria Babska, Maria Romanowska and Maria Emilia Kazimiera ...

5. Rudyard Kipling

Writer | The Man Who Would Be King

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was ...

6. Selma Lagerlöf

Writer | Körkarlen

Lagerlöf made her debut in 1891 with The Gösta Berling saga, a story about her own region, Värmland and her home, the country manor Mårbacka. With her novel she starts the wave of romantic nationalist literature in Sweden of the 1890s. Her novel Jerusalem (1901-02) is about religious emigrants from...

7. Paul Heyse

Writer | Your Favorite Story

Paul Heyse was born on March 13, 1830 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer, known for Your Favorite Story (1953) and Zwei Liebesgeschichten (1980). He was married to Anna Schubart and Margaret Kugler. He died on April 2, 1914 in Munich, Germany.

8. Maurice Maeterlinck

Writer | The Blue Bird

Maeterlinck was a revolutionary symbolist playwright from Belgium. His influence on modern drama is vast and he was one of the best known figures in Europe in the early twentieth century, both for his plays and his philosophical writings. Best known today for his fantasy play "The Blue Bird", which...

9. Gerhart Hauptmann

Writer | Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage

Gerhart Hauptmann was born on November 15, 1862 in Obersalzbrunn, Lower Silesia, Germany [now Szczawno-Zdrój, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a writer and actor, known for Faust (1926), Rose Bernd (1919) and Die Weber (1927). He was married to Margarete Marschalk and Marie Thienemann. He died on June...

10. Rabindranath Tagore

Writer | Streer Patra

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 6, 1861 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India [now India]. He was a writer and composer, known for Streer Patra (1972), Natir Puja (1932) and Shyama (2008). He was married to Mrinalini Devi. He died on August 7, 1941 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, ...

11. Romain Rolland

Writer | Xiang gui chun qing

Romain Rolland was born on January 29, 1866 in Clamecy, Nièvre, France. He was a writer, known for Xiang gui chun qing (1960), Miseraretaru tamasii (1953) and La novela mensual (1972). He was married to Maria Pavlovna Kudachova, Marie Mikhaïlova Cuvillier Koudachev and Clotilde Bréal. He died on ...

12. Verner von Heidenstam

Soundtrack | Hedebyborna

Swedish poet and novelist Verner von Heidenstam was born in Orebro, Sweden, in 1859. His family came from a long line of Swedish nobility, and had a tradition of service in the country's diplomatic corps and military. As a child he was rather sickly and in poor health, and spent much time reading, ...

13. Karl Gjellerup

Writer | Kvarnen

Karl Gjellerup was born on June 2, 1857 in Roholte, Denmark. He was a writer, known for Kvarnen (1921) and Møllen (1943). He was married to Eugenia Bendix. He died on October 11, 1919 in Dresden, Germany.

14. Henrik Pontoppidan

Writer | Thora van Deken

Henrik Pontoppidan was born on July 24, 1857 in Fredericia, Denmark. He was a writer, known for Thora van Deken (1920), A Fortunate Man (2018) and A Fortunate Man (2018). He was married to Antoinette Kofoed and Mette Marie Hansen. He died on August 21, 1943 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

15. Knut Hamsun

Writer | Poslední radost

Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun was born to a poor family and sent to live with an uncle, a commercial fisherman. He grew up without any formal schooling. Hamsun left Norway for the U.S. twice: once in 1882, and again in 1886. Each time he stayed in the U.S. for two years, holding various jobs ...

16. Anatole France

Writer | Félicie Nanteuil

Anatole France, the 1921 Nobel laureate for literature, was born Jacques Anatole Thibault in Paris on April 16, 1844, the son of a Paris book dealer. He attended the Parisian boys' school Collège Stanislas, where he received a classical education, and later matriculated at the École des Chartes. ...

17. Jacinto Benavente

Writer | La madona de las rosas

Jacinto Benavente was born on August 12, 1866 in Madrid, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for La madona de las rosas (1919), Los intereses creados (1919) and Para toda la vida (1923). He died on July 14, 1954 in Madrid, Spain.

18. William Butler Yeats

Writer | Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers

William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865 in Sandymount, County Dublin, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]. He was a writer, known for Valentines. A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry of Lovers (1994), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) and Echoes. He was married to Georgiana Hyde-Lees. He died on ...

19. Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont

Writer | Chlopi

Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont was born on May 7, 1867 in Kobiele Wielkie, Poland, Russian Empire [now Kobiele Wielkie, Lódzkie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Chlopi (1922), Ziemia obiecana (1927) and Komediantka (1987). He was married to Aurelia Szablowska. He died on December 5, 1925 in Warsaw...

20. George Bernard Shaw

Writer | My Fair Lady

The Anglo-Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, acquired a reputation as the greatest dramatist in the English language during the first half of the 20th Century for the plays he had written at the height of his creativity from "Mrs. ...

21. Grazia Deledda

Writer | La grazia

Grazia Deledda was born on September 27, 1871 in Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy. She was a writer, known for La grazia (1929), Devotion (1950) and Amore rosso (Marianna Sirca) (1952). She was married to Palmiro Madesani. She died on August 15, 1936 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

22. Henri Bergson

Writer | Film socialisme

Henri Bergson was born on October 18, 1859 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Film socialisme (2010), Snow (2020) and Origins of the 21st Century (2000). He was married to Louise Neuburger. He died on January 3, 1941 in Paris, France.

23. Sigrid Undset

Writer | Camera Three

Sigrid Undset was born on May 20, 1882 in Kalundborg, Denmark. She was a writer, known for Camera Three (1955), Kristin Lavransdatter (1995) and Jenny (1983). She was married to Anders Svarstad and Anders Castus Svarstad. She died on June 10, 1949 in Lillehammer, Norway.

24. Thomas Mann

Writer | Morte a Venezia

Thomas Mann was probably Germany's most influential author of the 20th century, receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. Born on 6 June 1875 in Lübeck, his family moved to Munich in 1893, where he lived until 1933 and wrote some of his most successful novels like "Buddenbrocks" (1901), "...

25. Sinclair Lewis

Writer | Elmer Gantry

Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was a colossus of American letters in the first half of the last century. Arguably, he is the first major "modern" writer of the 20th century, as there is American literature before "Main Street" (1920) and after that seminal...

26. John Galsworthy

Writer | That Forsyte Woman

John Galsworthy was born on August 14, 1867 in Kingston Hill, Surrey, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for That Forsyte Woman (1949), 21 Days Together (1940) and The Stranger (1924). He was married to Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper. He died on January 31, 1933 in Grove Lodge, Hampshire, ...

27. Ivan Bunin

Writer | Nesrochnaya vesna

Ivan Bunin was the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1933).

He was born Ivan Alekseevich Bunin on October 22, 1870 on his ancestral estate near Voronezh, Russia. His father, Aleksei Bunin, and his mother, were descendants of several lines of old nobility that included ...

28. Luigi Pirandello

Writer | Feu Mathias Pascal

Luigi Pirandello was born on June 28, 1867 in Girgenti, Sicily, Italy [now Agrigento, Sicily, Italy]. He was a writer, known for The Late Mathias Pascal (1925), Ma non è una cosa seria (1936) and Der Mann, der nicht nein sagen kann (1938). He was married to Antonietta Portulano. He died on ...

29. Eugene O'Neill

Writer | Long Day's Journey Into Night

Eugene O'Neill, the winner of four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature, is widely considered the greatest American playwright. No one, not Maxwell Anderson, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, nor Edward Albee, approaches O'Neill in terms of his artistic achievement or ...

30. Roger Martin du Gard

Writer | Les Thibault

Roger Martin du Gard was born on March 23, 1881 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He was a writer, known for Les Thibault (1972), Les Thibault (2003) and Jean Barois (1963). He was married to Helene Foucault. He died on August 23, 1958 in Bellême, Orne, France.

31. Pearl S. Buck

Writer | The Big Wave

Daughter of Christian missionaries, Pearl Buck was reared and educated in China. She received her university education in America but returned to China in the mid-1910s. She became a university instructor and writer, eventually authoring novels about China, some of which were turned into Hollywood ...

32. F.E. Sillanpää

Writer | Miehen tie

F.E. Sillanpää was born on September 16, 1888 in Hämeenkyrö, Finland. He was a writer and actor, known for One Man's Fate (1940), Silja - nuorena nukkunut (1956) and Nuorena nukkunut (1937). He died on June 3, 1964 in Helsinki, Finland.

33. Johannes V. Jensen

Writer | Madame d' Ora

Danish novelist Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was born in Faroe, Denmark, in 1873, the son of a veterinarian. He went to school in Viborg, then studied medicine at the University of Copenhagen, but did not finish his studies; he dropped out to travel the world and write. In 1897 he made his first trip to...

34. Gabriela Mistral

Actress | Sebastián y su amigo el artista

Gabriela Mistral was born on April 7, 1889 in Vicuña, Chile. She was an actress and writer, known for Sebastián y su amigo el artista (1971) and Time of the Angels (1987). She died on January 10, 1957 in Hempstead, New York, USA.

35. Herman Hesse

Composer | Land Without Shadows

Herman Hesse is known for Land Without Shadows (2010).

36. André Gide

Writer | Voyage au Congo

Andre Paul Guillaume Gide was born on November 22, 1869, in Paris, France. His father, named Paul Gide, was a professor of law at the University of Paris, he was a descendant from Cevennes Huhuenots. His mother, named Juliette Rondeaux, was a devoted Calvinist. He received an excellent private ...

37. T.S. Eliot

Writer | Cats

T.S. Eliot ranks with William Butler Yeats as the greatest English language poet of the 20th Century and was certainly the most influential. He was born Thomas Stearns Eliot into the bosom of a respectable middle class family on September 26, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri. The family had roots in New...

38. William Faulkner

Writer | To Have and Have Not

William Faulkner, one of the 20th century's most gifted novelists, wrote for the movies in part because he could not make enough money from his novels and short stories to support his growing number of dependants. The author of such acclaimed novels as "The Sound and the Fury" and "Absalom, Absalom...

39. Bertrand Russell

Writer | Reductio: Adventures in Ideas

Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872 in Ravenscroft, Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. He was a writer, known for Reductio: Adventures in Ideas (2019), Filosofix (2018) and Aman (1967). He was married to Edith Finch, Patricia Spence, Dora Russell and Alys Pearsall. He died on February 2, ...

40. Pär Lagerkvist

Writer | The Dwarf

Pär Lagerkvist was born on May 23, 1891 in Vaxjö, Sweden. He was a writer, known for The Dwarf, Barabbas (1961) and Ombyte av tåg: En allvarlig komedi (1943). He was married to Elaine Luella Hallberg and Karen Sorensen. He died on July 11, 1974 in Stockholm, Sweden.

41. François Mauriac

Writer | Thérèse Desqueyroux

François Mauriac was born on October 11, 1885 in Bordeaux, France. He was a writer, known for Therese (1962), Le pain vivant (1955) and Serpant's Skin (1963). He was married to Jeanne Lafon. He died on September 1, 1970 in Paris, France.

42. Winston Churchill

Writer | Matinee Theater

Born in Blenheim Palace, the residence of his grandfather, the 7th Duke of Marlborough. His father was the Duke's third son, Lord Randolph Churchill. His mother, Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of an American financier.

After passing through famous English public schools such as Harrow, he went on ...

43. Ernest Hemingway

Writer | To Have and Have Not

Ernest Hemingway was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize (1953) and the Nobel Prize in Literature (1954) for his novel The Old Man and the Sea, which was made into a 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea (1958).

He was born into the hands of his physician father. He was the second of six ...

44. Halldór Laxness

Writer | Salka Valka

Halldór Laxness was born on April 23, 1902 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He was a writer and actor, known for Salka Valka (1954), Atomic Station (1984) and Under the Glacier (1989). He was married to Auður Sveinsdóttir and Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir. He died on February 8, 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

45. Juan Ramón Jiménez

Writer | Platero y yo

Juan Ramón Jiménez was born on December 24, 1881 in Muguer, Huelva, Spain. He was a writer, known for Platero y yo (1966), Los libros (1974) and Imágenes y versos a la Navidad (1962). He was married to Zenobia Camprubí Aymar. He died on May 29, 1958 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

46. Albert Camus

Writer | Bajo la metralla

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, Algeria. His parents were Spanish-French-Algerian (pied noir) colonists. His father, Lucien, died in the Battle of Marne (1914) during WWI. His mother, named Catherine Helene Sintes was of Spanish origin, she was a deaf mute due to a stroke, ...

47. Boris Pasternak

Writer | Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak was born in Moscow on February 10, 1890 into an artistic family of Russian-Jewish heritage. His father was an acclaimed artist named Leonid Pasternak, who converted to Christianity, and his mother was a renown concert pianist named Rosa Kaufman. Their home was open to family friends...

48. Salvatore Quasimodo

Writer | Megi

Salvatore Quasimodo was born on August 20, 1901 in Modica, Syracuse, Italy. He was a writer, known for Megi (1989), Ecuba (2004) and Washington Square (1997). He was married to Maria Cumani Quasimodo and Bice Donetti. He died on June 14, 1968 in Naples, Italy.

49. Ivo Andric

Writer | The Bridge on the Drina

Ivo Andric was born on October 9, 1892 in Dolac near Travnik, Austria-Hungary [now Bosnia and Herzegovina]. He was a writer, known for The Bridge on the Drina, Legends of Anika (1954) and The Woman from Sarajevo (1980). He was married to Milica Babic-Andric. He died on March 13, 1975 in Belgrade, ...

50. John Steinbeck

Writer | Lifeboat

John Steinbeck was the third of four children and the only son born to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. His father was County Treasurer and his mother, a former schoolteacher. John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended classes at Stanford University, leaving in 1925 ...

51. Giorgos Seferis

Writer | Capitali culturali d'Europa

Giorgos Seferis was born on March 13, 1900 in Urla, Ottoman Empire. He was a writer, known for Capitali culturali d'Europa (1983), Sta perihora tis Keryneias (1972) and Epi aspalathon (1979). He was married to Maria Zannou. He died on September 20, 1971 in Athens, Greece.

52. Jean-Paul Sartre

Writer | Les orgueilleux

Jean-Paul Charles-Aymard Sartre was born on June 21, 1905, in Paris, France. His father, Jean-Baptiste Sartre, was an officer in the French Navy. His mother, Anne-Marie Schweitzer, was the cousin of Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Sartre was one year old when his father died. He was ...

53. Mikhail Sholokhov

Writer | Podnyataya tselina

Mikhail Sholokhov was a Russian writer who received a Nobel prize for his epic novel 'Tikhiy Don'.

He was born in 1905 into a Cossack family of farmers in Kruzhilin, Veshenskaya, Rostov province in Southern Russia. His high school studies were interrupted by the Russian revolution and the Civil War, ...

54. Shmuel Yosef Agnon

Writer | Shabbat Hamalka

Shmuel Yosef Agnon was born on July 17, 1888 in Buczacz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Buchach, Ukraine]. He was a writer, known for Shabbat Hamalka (1965) and In the Prime of Her Life (2010). He was married to Esther Marx. He died on February 17, 1970 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

55. Nelly Sachs

Writer | Den magiska dansaren

Sachs, whose real name was Leonie Sachs, grew up in a sheltered upper-middle-class family until the National Socialists came to power. She enjoyed largely private lessons. It was not until 1940 that she and her mother were able to escape from the National Socialists to Stockholm, Sweden. From 1933 ...

56. Miguel Ángel Asturias

Writer | Tres historias fantásticas

Miguel Ángel Asturias was born on October 19, 1899 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He was a writer, known for Tres historias fantásticas (1964), Soluna (1969) and El señor presidente (1970). He was married to Blanca Mora y Araujo and Clemencia Amado. He died on June 9, 1974 in Madrid, ...

57. Yasunari Kawabata

Writer | Kurutta ippêji

Yasunari Kawabata was born on June 11, 1899 in Osaka, Japan. He was a writer and actor, known for A Page of Madness (1926), Izu no odoriko (1967) and Izu no odoriko (1974). He was married to Hideko Keizo. He died on April 16, 1972 in Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan.

58. Samuel Beckett

Writer | Beckett Directs Beckett: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett is an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator.

A resident of Paris for most of his life, he wrote in both French and English.

Beckett's work offers a bleak, tragi-comic outlook on human existence, often coupled with black comedy ...

59. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Writer | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer who was imprisoned for his criticism of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and later exposed Stalin's prison system in his novels and spent 20 years in exile.

He was born Aleksandr Isaakovich Solzhenitsyn on December 11, 1918, in Kislovodsk, Southern ...

60. Pablo Neruda

Writer | American Roulette

Pablo Neruda was the pseudonym of Chilean poet Ricardo Neftali Reyes Basualto. He was born in Parral, a little town in central Chile, but his family moved to Temuco City when he was just a few months old. It was there he showed interest in poetry and made his early works, and where he picked "Pablo...

61. Heinrich Böll

Writer | Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum

A recurring theme in Heinrich Böll's novels is the German society during the decades following WWII. In his early novels, like 'Wo warst du Adam?' he writes about the meaningless of war, its sufferings and horrors. The moral decay of post-war Germany is the theme for the following novels, 'Nicht ...

62. Patrick White

Writer | Voss

Patrick White was born on May 28, 1912 in Knightsbridge, London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Voss, The Night, the Prowler (1978) and Australian Theatre Festival (1980). He died on September 29, 1990 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

63. Eyvind Johnson

Writer | Här har du ditt liv

Eyvind Johnson was born on July 29, 1900 in Svartbjörnsbyn, Boden, Norrbottens län, Sweden. He was a writer and director, known for Here Is Your Life (1966), 4 x 4 (1965) and Gamla Stan (1931). He was married to Cilla Frankenhäuser and Aase Christoffersen. He died on August 25, 1976 in Stockholm, ...

64. Harry Martinson

Writer | Vägen till Klockrike

Harry Martinson was born on May 6, 1904 in Nyteboda, Blekinge län, Sweden. He was a writer and actor, known for Vägen till Klockrike (1953), Aniara (2018) and Aniara (1986). He was married to Moa Martinson. He died on February 11, 1978 in Karolinska sjukhuset, Solna, Stockholms län, Sweden.

65. Eugenio Montale

Writer | And You're So Special?

Eugenio Montale was born on October 12, 1896 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer, known for And You're So Special? (1990), In quanto a noi (2022) and Journal de voyage (1961). He was married to Drusilla Tanzi. He died on September 12, 1981 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

66. Saul Bellow

Actor | Zelig

Saul Bellow was born on July 10, 1915 in Lachine, Québec, Canada [now Lachine, Montréal, Québec, Canada]. He was a writer and actor, known for Zelig (1983), Henderson the Rain King and Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965). He was married to Janis Bellow, Alexandra Ionesco Tuleca, Susan Glassman, Alexandra ...

67. Vicente Aleixandre

Writer | Vibraciones oscilatorias

Vicente Aleixandre was born on April 26, 1898 in Seville, Spain. He was a writer, known for Vibraciones oscilatorias (1975), Sufrían por la luz (2006) and Mirar un cuadro (1982). He died on December 14, 1984 in Madrid, Spain.

68. Isaac Bashevis Singer

Writer | Yentl

Isaac Bashevis Singer was born on July 14, 1904 in Leoncin, Poland, Russian Empire [now Leoncin, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Yentl (1983), American Playhouse (1980) and Enemies, A Love Story (1989). He was married to Alma Wassermann and Runia Pontsch. He died on July 24, 1991 ...

69. Odysseas Elytis

Soundtrack | Mia aioniotita kai mia mera

Odysseas Elytis was born on November 2, 1911 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. He was a writer, known for Eternity and a Day (1998), O zografos Theofilos (1979) and Mousiki vradya (1976). He died on March 18, 1996.

70. Czeslaw Milosz

Writer | Robinson warszawski

Czeslaw Milosz was born on June 30, 1911 in Szetejnie, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Seteniai, Lithuania]. He was a writer, known for Robinson warszawski (1950), Teatr Polskiego Radia (2004) and Dolina Issy (1982). He was married to Carol Marie Thigpen and Janina Dluska. He died on August ...

71. Elias Canetti

Writer | Komödie der Eitelkeit

Elias Canetti was born on July 24, 1905 in Russe, Bulgaria. He was a writer, known for Komödie der Eitelkeit (1972), Hochzeit (1972) and Zur Nacht (1967). He was married to Hera Buschor and Venetiana Taubner-Calderon. He died on August 11, 1994 in Zürich, Switzerland.

72. Gabriel García Márquez

Writer | El año de la peste

Major Latin-American author of novels and short stories, a central figure in the so-called magical realism movement in Latin American literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982. Studied law and journalism in Bogotá and Cartagena. He began his career as a journalist in 1948, ...

73. William Golding

Writer | Lord of the Flies

William Golding was born on September 19, 1911 in St Columb Minor, Cornwall, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Lord of the Flies (1990), Lord of the Flies (1963) and Alkitrang dugo (1975). He was married to Ann Brookfield. He died on June 19, 1993 in Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England, UK.

74. Claude Simon

Self | Cinéastes de notre temps

Claude Simon was born on October 10, 1913 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He died on July 6, 2005 in Paris, France.

75. Wole Soyinka

Director | Governor's Plea

Wole Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is a writer and director, known for Governor's Plea (2024), Dark Moment and Kongi's Harvest (1970). He has been married to Folake Doherty since 1989. They have three children. He was previously married to Libranrian Oladie Idowu and ...

76. Joseph Brodsky

Writer | Khrustalyov, mashinu!

Joseph Brodsky was a Nobel Prize-winning Russian-Jewish poet, writer, director and translator, who was arrested and prosecuted by the Soviet regime before his emigration.

He was born Joseph Aleksandrovich Brodsky on May 24, 1940 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia). He survived the Nazi siege of ...

77. Naguib Mahfouz

Writer | El Fetewa

Naguib Mahfouz was born on December 11, 1911 in Cairo, Egypt. He was a writer, known for El Fetewa (1957), The Monster (1954) and Between Heaven and Earth (1959). He was married to Atiyyatallah Ibrahim. He died on August 30, 2006 in Cairo, Egypt.

78. Camilo José Cela

Writer | El cerco del diablo

Spanish novelista of post-Civil War period who, with his first and most popular novel, 'La familia de Pascual Duarte' (1942) established the narrative style known as tremendismo, a tendency to emphasize violence and grotesque imagery. His literary production -primarily novels, short narratives, and...

79. Octavio Paz

Music_department | El rebelde (Romance de antaño)

Octavio Paz was born on March 31, 1914 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a writer, known for The Rebel (1943), I, the Worst of All (1990) and Sor Juana Inez de la cruz (1988). He was married to Marie Jo Paz and Elena Garro. He died on April 19, 1998 in Mexico City, Mexico.

80. Nadine Gordimer

Writer | City Lovers

Nadine Gordimer was born on November 20, 1923 in Springs, Transvaal, South Africa. She was a writer and director, known for City Lovers (1982), The Gordimer Stories (1982) and Allen Boesak: Choosing for Justice (1984). She was married to Reinhold Cassirer and Gerald Gavronsky. She died on July 13, ...

81. Derek Walcott

Writer | Haytian Earth

Derek Walcott was born on January 23, 1930 in Castries, Saint Lucia. He was a writer and director, known for Haytian Earth (1984), The English Programme (1976) and NBC Experiment in Television (1967). He was married to Norline Metivier, Margaret Ruth Maillard, Fay Moston and Sigrid Nama. He died on...

82. Toni Morrison

Writer | Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison was born on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, USA. She was a writer and actress, known for Song of Solomon, Beloved (1998) and American Experience (1987). She was married to Harold Morrison. She died on August 5, 2019 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.

83. Kenzaburô Ôe

Writer | Upland

Kenzaburô Ôe was born on January 31, 1935 in Oose, Japan. He was a writer, known for Upland, A False Student (1960) and Warera no jidai (1959). He was married to Yukari itami. He died on March 3, 2023 in Japan.

84. Seamus Heaney

Writer | Stay

Seamus Heaney was born on April 13, 1939 in Castledawson, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Stay (2013), Bye-Child (2003) and Seanchaí (2006). He was married to Marie Devlin. He died on August 30, 2013 in Dublin, Ireland.

85. Wislawa Szymborska

Writer | Teatr Polskiego Radia

Wislawa Szymborska was born on July 2, 1923 in Prowent, Poznanskie [now part of Kórnik, Wielkopolskie], Poland. She was a writer, known for Teatr Polskiego Radia (2004), Tortures (2017) and Vietnam (2021). She was married to Adam Wlodek. She died on February 1, 2012 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland.

86. Dario Fo

Writer | Souvenir d'Italie

Dario Fo was born on March 24, 1926 in Sangiano, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and actor, known for It Happened in Rome (1957), Lo svitato (1956) and The Betrothed (1989). He was married to Franca Rame. He died on October 13, 2016 in Milan, Italy.

87. José Saramago

Writer | Enemy

José Saramago was born on November 16, 1922 in Azinhaga, Golega, Portugal. He was a writer, known for Enemy (2013), Blindness (2008) and O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo. He was married to Pilar del Río and Ilda Reis. He died on June 18, 2010 in Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain.

88. Günter Grass

Writer | Die Blechtrommel

He grew up as the son of a merchant family. At the age of 15 he reported for military service in the Second World War. In 1944 he became a member of the Waffen-SS and was stationed in the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg. After the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Americans until 1946....

89. Gao Xingian

Self | Gao Xingjiang: Celui qui marche seul

90. V.S. Naipaul

Writer | The Mystic Masseur

V.S. Naipaul was born on August 17, 1932 in Chaguanas, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago. He was a writer, known for The Mystic Masseur (2001), The Levin Interviews (1980) and Review (1969). He was married to Nadira Khannum Alvi and Patricia Ann Hale. He died on August 11, 2018 in London, England, UK.

91. Imre Kertész

Writer | Sorstalanság

Imre Kertész was born on November 9, 1929 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a writer, known for Fateless (2005), Emelet (2006) and Csacsifogat (1984). He was married to Magda Ambrus-Sass and Albina Vas. He died on March 31, 2016 in Budapest, Hungary.

92. J.M. Coetzee

Writer | Waiting for the Barbarians

J.M. Coetzee was born on February 9, 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a writer, known for Waiting for the Barbarians (2019), Dust (1985) and Disgrace (2008).

93. Elfriede Jelinek

Writer | La pianiste

Her mother Olga, née Buchner, came from the Viennese upper middle class. Her father Friedrich Jelinek was a chemist and of Jewish-Czech descent. Jelinek spent her childhood and youth in Vienna. There she initially attended a monastery school. She then began studying theater studies and art history ...

94. Harold Pinter

Actor | Mansfield Park

Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate for Literature, was born October 10, 1930, in London's working-class Hackney district to Hyman and Frances Pinter, Eastern European Jews who had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Portugal. Hyman (known as "Jack") was a tailor specializing in women's ...

95. Orhan Pamuk

Writer | Gizli Yüz

After school, Pamuk studied journalism and architecture at the Technical University of his hometown. After initially being interested in painting, he discovered his talent for writing in the mid-1970s. Pamuk soon presented his first novel, which won an award in 1979 and was published in 1982. Just ...

96. Doris Lessing

Writer | Adoration

Doris Lessing was born on October 22, 1919 in Kermanshah, Persia [now Iran]. She was a writer, known for Adoration (2013), Maupassant (1963) and Memoirs of a Survivor (1981). She was married to Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing and Frank Charles Wisdom. She died on November 17, 2013 in London, ...

97. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Writer | Yo

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was born on April 13, 1940 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He is a writer and actor, known for Yo (2015), Mondo (1995) and Moloch, les chairs vives (2005). He has been married to Jémia Jean since December 10, 1975. They have two children. He was previously married to ...

98. Herta Müller

Writer | Vulpe - vânator

Herta Müller was born on August 17, 1953 in Nitzkydorf, Banat, Romania. She is a writer, known for Vulpe - vânator (1993), Traveling on One Leg (2016) and An den Rand geschrieben - Rumäniendeutsche Schriftsteller im Fadenkreuz der Securitate (2010). She is married to Harry Merkle. She ...

99. Mario Vargas Llosa

Writer | Pantaleón y las visitadoras

Mario Vargas Llosa was born on March 28, 1936 in Arequipa, Peru. He is a writer and director, known for Pantaleon (1976), Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (1999) and Tune in Tomorrow... (1990). He has been married to Patricia Llosa since 1965. He was previously married to Julia Urquidi.

100. Yan Mo

Writer | Xing fu shi guang

Mo Yan (a pseudonym for Guan Moye) was born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi in Shandong province in north-eastern China. His parents were farmers. As a twelve-year-old during the Cultural Revolution he left school to work, first in agriculture, later in a factory. In 1976 he joined the People's ...