Bookish birthdays for the week of September 6, 2026

Here are the literary birthdays to celebrate over the week of September 6, 2026.

Jennifer Egan (September 7, 1962): Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; she’s also known and celebrated for Look at Me and The Invisible Circus.

Grace Metalious (September 8, 1924): Metalious’s book Peyton Place is both one of the bestselling novels of all time and one of the most criticized, for its depiction of the darker side of humanity.

Phyllis A. Whitney (September 9, 1903): In addition to her award-winning mysteries for adults (such as The Mystery of the Haunted Pool and The Mystery of the Hidden Hand), Whitney wrote books for younger readers. 

Mary Oliver (September 10, 1935): Oliver’s vast and acclaimed body of work — which yielded her a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award — includes the often-quoted poem “The Summer Day.”

O. Henry (September 11, 1862): O. Henry’s first collection of short stories, Cabbages and Kings, was written while he was in prison; the next collection included his most famous work, “The Gift of the Magi.”

D.H. Lawrence (September 11, 1885): Lawrence’s now critically acclaimed The Rainbow was initially banned for obscenity, as was Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

H.L. Mencken (September 12, 1880): Mencken was a highly influential critic and satirist early in his career, and though he lost prominence in those areas by the 1940s, at that point his The American Language had earned him the reputation of the leading authority on American English.