Famous Authors Born in June

From Nobel laureates to high-flying adventurers to iconic children's authors to literary groundbreakers, June is the birth month of many notable and acclaimed authors. We're delighted to celebrate them and their beloved works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, theater, and more.

Literary legends born in June

June 1

• Colleen McCullough, Australian novelist (1937–2015), The Thorn Birds

June 2

• Thomas Hardy, English novelist (1840–1928), Tess of the D'Urbervilles
• Dorothy West, Harlem Renaissance writer and publisher (1907–1998), The Wedding
• Norton Juster, New York-born architect and children's book author, (1929–2021), The Phantom Tollbooth
• Carol Shields, Illinois author (1935–2003), The Stone Diaries

June 3

• Allen Ginsberg, American beat poet (1926–1997), Howl and Other Poems
• Larry McMurtry, Texas novelist (1936–2021), Lonesome Dove

June 4

• Joe Hill, Maine-born horror novelist and son to Stephen King (1972– ), Heart-Shaped Box

June 5

• Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet and dramatist (1898–1936; executed by firing squad!), The Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca
• Richard Scarry, Boston-born children's author and illustrator (1919–1994), Cars and Trucks and Things that Go
• Ken Follett, Welsh novelist (1949– ), The Pillars of the Earth
• Rick Riordan, American children's author (1964– ), Percy Jackson and the Olympians

June 6

• Thomas Mann, German novelist and Nobel laureate (1875–1955), The Magic Mountain
• Cynthia Rylant, American children's author (1954– ), When I Was Young in the Mountains

June 7

• Gwendolyn Brooks, African-American poet (1917–2000), Selected Poems
• Nikki Giovanni, American poet and civil rights promoter (1943–2024), Rosa
• Louise Erdrich, Native-American author (1954– ), The Round House

June 8

• Sara Paretsky, Iowa-born author of the I. Warshawski detective series (1947– ), Indemnity Only

June 9

• Patricia Cornwell, American crime writer known for the Kay Scarpetta series (1956– ), Post-Mortem

June 10

• Saul Bellow, Jewish-American Nobel laureate (1915–2005), The Adventures of Augie March
• Maurice Sendak, NYC-born children's author and illustrator (1928–2012), Where the Wild Things Are

June 11

• Athol Fugard, South African anti-apartheid playwright and novelist (1932–2025), Tsotsi
• William Styron, Virginia novelist (1925–2006), Sophie's Choice

June 12

• Johanna Spyri, Swiss children's novelist (1827–1901), Heidi
• Anne Frank, German diarist and Holocaust victim (1929–1945), The Diary of a Young Girl
• Rona Jaffe, American writer (1932–2005), The Best of Everything

June 13

• B. Yeats, Irish poet (1865–1939), The Poetry of W. B. Yeats
• Dorothy L. Sayers, English mystery novelist (1893–1957), Whose Body?

June 14

• Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and abolitionist (1811–1896), Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American novelist (1933–1991), The Painted Bird
• John Edgar Wideman, African-American writer (1941– ), Philadelphia Fire

June 15

• Brian Jacques, Liverpudlian author (1939–2011), Redwall

June 16

• Erich Segal, American author (1937–2010), Love Story
• Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist (1938– ), We Were the Mulvaneys

June 17

• John Hersey, American writer and journalist known as a frontrunner in the "new journalism" movement (1914–1993), Hiroshima

June 18

• Gail Godwin, American author (1937– ), Father Melancholy's Daughter
• Chris Van Allsburg, children's author and illustrator (1949– ), The Polar Express

June 19

• Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and Catholic writer (1623–1662), Pensées
• Tobias Wolff, Alabama-born author (1945–), This Boy's Life: A Memoir
• Salman Rushdie, Indian-born British and American novelist (1947– ) Midnight's Children

June 20

• Lillian Hellman, New Orleans-born playwright (1905–1984), The Children's Hour
• Vikram Seth, Indian novelist and poet (1952– ), A Suitable Boy

June 21

• Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, writer, and reluctant Nobel laureate (1905–1980), No Exit and Three Other Plays
• Ian McEwan, British novelist (1948–), Atonement

June 22

• Erich Maria Remarque, German novelist (1898–1970), All Quiet on the Western Front
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (1906–2001), Gift From the Sea
• Octavia E. Butler, African-American science-fiction novelist (1947–2006), Parable of the Sower
• Dan Brown, American novelist (1964– ), The Da Vinci Code

June 23

• Richard Bach, American writer (1936– ), Jonathan Livingston Seagull

June 24

• Ambrose Bierce, Ohio-born writer, journalist, and poet (1842–unknown, he went missing in Mexico around 1914), The Devil's Dictionary
• Anita Desai, Bengali-German novelist (1937– ), Clear Light of Day
• Stephen Dunn, NYC-born poet (1939–2021), Different Hours

June 25

• George Orwell, British futurist and novelist (1903–1950), Animal Farm
• Eric Carle, Massachusetts children's book author and illustrator (1929–2021), The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Yann Martel, Spanish-born Canadian author (1963– ), Life of Pi

June 26

• Pearl S. Buck, American author and humanitarian (1892–1973), The Good Earth

June 27

• Lucille Clifton, African-American NY-born poet (1936–2010), Blessing the Boats
• Alice McDermott, Brooklyn-born novelist (1953– ), Charming Billy

June 28

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Genevan philosopher and writer (1712–1778), The Social Contract
• Mark Helprin, American-Israeli novelist and journalist (1947– ), Winter's Tale

June 29

• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French author (1900–), The Little Prince

June 30

• Czeslaw Milosz, Polish poet and Nobel laureate (1911–2004), New and Collected Poems, 1931–2001

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