Bookish birthdays for the week of February 28, 2021

Here are the literary birthdays to celebrate over the week of February 28, 2021.

Ralph Ellison (March 1, 1914): Ellison’s first novel — and the only one published during his lifetime — was Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award.

Tom Wolfe (March 2, 1931): Wolfe’s essay collection The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby helped launch the New Journalism movement, while The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test became a counterculture classic; he also wrote novels including The Bonfire of the Vanities.

John Irving (March 2, 1942): Irving is best known for The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The Cider House Rules; the latter two also became movies.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6, 1806): Browning was the most celebrated female poet of her time; her most enduring poetic legacy is the sonnet “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

Gabriel García Márquez (March 6, 1928): Marquez is considered among the best writers of the twentieth century; among his most acclaimed works are One Hundred Years of Solitude (which contributed to his Nobel Prize win) and Love in the Time of Cholera.

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