Famous Authors Born in August

From groundbreaking science-fiction authors to esteemed poets to one of the bestselling novelists of all time, August is the birth month of many notable and acclaimed wordsmiths. We're delighted to celebrate them and their beloved works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, theater, and more.

Literary legends born in August

August 1

• Herman Melville (1819–1891), NYC-based novelist, short story writer, and poet, Moby-Dick
• Tomi Adeyemi (1993– ), American novelist of YA fantasy, Children of Blood and Bone

August 2

• James Baldwin (1924–1987), NYC-born American writer and civil rights activist, The Fire Next Time
• Isabel Allende (1942– ), Chilean-American author, My Name is Emilia del Valle

August 3

• D. James (1920–2014), British mystery writer, Cover Her Face
• Leon Uris (1924–2003), Baltimore-born author of historical fiction, Exodus

August 4

• Knut Hamsun (1859–1952), Norwegian Nobel laureate, Hunger
• Dennis Lehane (1965– ), American author of mysteries and thrillers, Small Mercies
• Jojo Moyes (1969– ), Award-winning English novelist, We All Live Here

August 5

• Conrad Aiken (1889–1973), Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, Selected Poems
• David Baldacci (1960– ), Virginia-born author of legal thrillers, Long Shadows

August 6

• Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892), longtime Poet Laureate of England, Idylls of the King
• Paolo Bacigalupi (1972– ), Award-winning American sci-fi and fantasy author, Navola

August 7

• Betsy Byars (1928–2020), American author of children's books, The Summer of the Swans
• Anne Fadiman (1953– ), American writer of nonfiction, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

August 8

• Sara Teasdale (1884–1933), Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, Love Songs
• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896–1953), Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, The Yearling

August 9

• L. Travers (1899–1996), Australian-born British writer, Mary Poppins
• Daniel Keyes (1927–2014), Nebula and Hugo Awards-winning American science-fiction author, Flowers for Algernon

August 10

• Suzanne Collins (1962– ), Connecticut-born author, Sunrise on the Reaping

August 11

• Alex Haley (1921–1992), American author, Roots: The Saga of an American Family
• Andre Dubus (1936–1999), American writer of short stories, novels, and essays, Selected Stories

August 12

• William Goldman, (1931–2018), American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, The Princess Bride
• Walter Dean Myers, (1937–2014), Harlem-raised award-winning author of children's and YA literature, Monster
• Sue Monk Kidd, (1948– ), American author of historical novels, The Secret Life of Bees

August 13

• Tom Perrotta (1961– ), American novelist and screenwriter, The Leftovers
• Kamila Shamsie (1973– ), Award-winning Pakistani-British writer, Home Fire

August 14

• John Galsworthy (1867–1933), English Nobelist, The Forsyte Saga
• Russell Baker (1925–2019), Virginia-born two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Growing Up
• Danielle Steel (1947– ), American writer of romance novels who has written more than 190 books and is one of the bestselling fiction authors of all time, The Whittiers

August 15

• Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), Scottish novelist, Ivanhoe
• Edna Ferber (1885–1968), Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, So Big
• Stieg Larsson (1954–2004), Swedish journalist and crime novelist, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

August 16

• Georgette Heyer (1902–1974), British historical novelist best known for her Regency-era romances, Frederica
• Benjamin Alire Sáenz (1954– ), New Mexico-born author of books for children and young adults, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

August 17

• Ted Hughes (1930–1998), English poet, translator, and children's author who had a notoriously tumultuous union with fellow poet Sylvia Plath, The Iron Giant
• Jonathan Franzen (1959– ), Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, The Corrections

August 18

• Sonia Levitin (1934– ), Berlin-born American children's author, Journey to America: Escaping the Holocaust to Freedom
• Paula Danziger (1944–2004), American children and YA author, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit

August 19

• John Dryden (1631–1700), England's first Poet Laureate, All For Love
• Frank McCourt (1930–2009), Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish-American author, Angela's Ashes
• Veronica Roth (1988– ), American YA novelist, Divergent

August 20

• P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction, The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories
• Jacqueline Susann (1918–1974), American novelist and actress, Valley of the Dolls

August 21

• Robert Stone (1937–2015), Award-winning American novelist, Dog Soldiers
• Denise Mina (1966– ), Scottish crime writer, Conviction

August 22

• Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), American short story writer, poet, and critic once considered to be the wittiest woman in America, Enough Rope
• Ray Bradbury (1920–2012), Renowned U.S. science fiction author, Fahrenheit 451
• Annie Proulx (1935– ), Connecticut-born award-winning writer, The Shipping News

August 23

• Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), Kansan poet, playwright, and novelist, Spoon River Anthology
• Curtis Sittenfeld (1975– ), Ohio-born author, Romantic Comedy

August 24

• Jean Rhys (1890–1979), Caribbean-born English novelist, Wide Sargasso Sea
• Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), Argentine fiction writer and essayist, Ficciones
• S. Byatt (1936–2023), Booker Prize-winning British novelist, Possession
• Orson Scott Card (1951– ), Hugo and Nebula Awards-winning science-fiction novelist, Ender's Game
• John Green (1977– ), Award-winning American author, The Fault in Our Stars

August 25

• Charles Wright (1935– ), Tennessee-born Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Black Zodiac
• Martin Amis (1949–2023), English author, The Zone of Interest

August 26

• John Buchan (1875–1940), Scottish-born novelist, historian, and politician, The Thirty-Nine Steps
• Julio Cortázar (1914–1984), Argentine-French novelist and poet, Hopscotch
• Barbara Ehrenreich (1941–2022), Montana-born political journalist, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

August 27

• Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945), Indiana-born writer, An American Tragedy
• Antonia Fraser (1932– ), British novelist, historian, and biographer, Marie Antoinette: The Journey

August 28

• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German author, Faust
• Rita Dove (1952– ), Ohio native and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Selected Poets

August 29

• Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), Massachusetts physician, essayist, poet, and novelist, Over the Teacups

August 30

• Mary Shelley (1797–1851), English novelist, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

August 31

• DuBose Heyward (1885–1940), American novelist, poet, children's author, and playwright, Porgy
• William Saroyan (1908–1981), Armenian-American novelist and playwright, The Human Comedy

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