Posted on November 10, 2019 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Here are the literary birthdays to celebrate over the week of November 10, 2019:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (November 11, 1821): Dostoevsky’s novels — including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov — are considered some of the best ever written, and his writing is also noted for accurately predicting how Russian revolutionaries would behave in power. 

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922): Vonnegut broke into the literary scene with the still-popular Cat’s Cradle (which he submitted to the University of Chicago as a thesis, earning him a master’s in anthropology) and cemented his fame with Slaughterhouse-Five.

Robert Louis Stevenson (November 13, 1850): Stevenson is best known for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island, which he invented as a game for his stepson.

Chinua Achebe (November 16, 1930): Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart, is among the world’s most widely read African novels (if not the most read); he received the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 for his entire career of work.

Birthdays sourced from Calendar of Literary Facts; biographical information sourced from Encyclopedia Britannica and publisher websites. Did we miss someone? Email and let us know!

Categories: Today in Books

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