Today in literary history: August 17

Here's what happened on August 17 in literary history:

Births

• Charlotte Grimke was born in 1837.

• Ted Hughes was born in 1930.

• V.S. Naipaul was born in 1932.

• Jonathan Franzen was born in 1959.

Deaths

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman died in 1935.

Book releases

• Animal Farm by George Orwell was published in 1945.

• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk was published in 1996.