Bookish birthdays for the week of April 18, 2021

Here are the literary birthdays to celebrate over the week of April 18, 2021.

Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816). Brontë’s classic novel, Jane Eyre, was quickly accepted by a publisher and actually an immediate success.

Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724). Kant spent ten years reflecting on what would become his most famous work, Critique of Pure Reason, and still was nervous about publishing it.

Vladimir Nabokov (April 22, 1899): Nabokov had published several collections of poetry and novels, in both Russian and English, before Lolita — which became his first work to bring in more than a few hundred dollars and the one for which he’s best known.

William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564). Though we know Shakespeare as one of the most — if not the most — influential English writers, the first reference to him from the literary world is sarcastically scathing.

Anthony Trollope (April 24, 1815). Trollope’s popularity, beginning with the Chronicles of Barsetshire novels, led many to underestimate the quality of his writing.

Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905). Warren, most widely known for the novel All The King’s Men, also became the first poet laureate of the United States in 1986.

Sue Grafton (April 24, 1940): Grafton’s A Is for Alibi (and the series it launched) helped overturn gender stereotypes in mystery fiction, with its independent, self-reliant, tough heroine Kinsey Millhone.

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