July
- 1574 - Joseph Hall, English bishop and writer born
- 1804 - George Sand, French writer born
- 1896 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author died
- 2004 - Peter Barnes, English writer died
- 1724 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet born
- 1865 - Lily Braun, German writer born
- 1923 - Wisława Szymborska, Polish writer born
- 2004 - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese writer and poet died
- 2005 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter died
- 1683 - Edward Young, English poet born
- 1793 - John Clare, British poet born
- 1883 - Franz Kafka, Czech writer born
- 1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer born
- 2001 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author died
- 1715 - Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet born
- 1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer born
- 1927 - Neil Simon, American playwright born
- 2000 - Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Polish writer died
- 1687 - Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
- 1889 - Jean Cocteau, French writer born
- 1904 - Abai Kunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet died
- 1908 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author died
- 1859 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer born
- 1533 - Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet died
- 1535 - Sir Thomas More, English writer and philosopher was executed
- 1893 - Guy de Maupassant, French author died
- 1855 - Ludwig Ganghofer, German writer born
- 1884 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German novelist born
- 1893 - Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer born
- 1956 - Gottfried Benn, German poet died
- 1971 - Claude Gauvreau, Canadian writer died
- 1621 - Jean de la Fontaine, French writer born
- 1889 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published
- 1892 - Richard Aldington, English poet born
- 1987 - Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet died
- 2004 - Paula Danziger, American author died
- 1764 - Ann Radcliffe, English writer born
- 1775 - Matthew Lewis, English novelist born
- 1911 - Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator born
- 1871 - Marcel Proust, French writer born
- 1903 - John Wyndham, British author born
- 1931 - Alice Munro, Canadian writer born
- 1680 - Louis Moréri, French encyclopedist died
- 2003 - Winston Graham, English writer died
- 1561 - Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet born
- 1723 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer born
- 1859 - A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published
- 1960 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published
- 1468 - Juan del Encina, Spanish poet born
- 1817 - Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher born
- 1819 - Charles Kingsley, English writer born
- 1868 - Stefan George, German poet born
- 1889 - Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet died
- 1894 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer born
- 1983 - Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author died
- 1743 - Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, Russian poet born
- 1912 - Northrop Frye, Canadian literary critic born
- 1918 - Arthur Laurents, American playwright, novelist, and director born
- 1921 - Leon Garfield, English children's author born
- 2003 - Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist died
- 1892 - Walter Benjamin, German literary critic and writer born
- 1904 - Anton Chekhov, Russian physician and author died
- 1914 - Hammond Innes, English writer born
- 1995 - First item sold on Amazon.com
- 2003 - Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer died
- 1664 - Andreas Gryphius, German writer died
- 1943 - Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet born
- 1951 - The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger published
- 2001 - Maurice De Bevere, Belgian cartoonist, the creator of Lucky Luke died
- 1888 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer born
- 1889 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author born
- 1901 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet born
- 1917 - Hector Malot, French writer died
- 1718 - Saverio Bettinelli, Italian writer born
- 1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, English author born
- 1817 - Jane Austen, English novelist died
- 1906 - Clifford Odets, American writer born
- 1819 - Gottfried Keller, Swiss writer born
- 1893 - Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian poet born
- 1896 - A. J. Cronin, Scottish writer born
- 1374 - Petrarch, Italian poet died
- 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet born
- 1816 - Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, Russian poet died
- 1864 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer born
- 1934 - Uwe Johnson, German writer born
- 2003 - Nicolas Freeling, English writer died
- 1796 - Robert Burns, Scottish poet died
- 1899 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer born
- 1911 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author born
- 1938 - Owen Wister, American author died
- 1733 - Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer born
- 1916 - James Whitcomb Riley, American author and poet died
- 1948 - S. E. Hinton, American author born
- 1967 - Carl Sandburg, American poet died
- 1888 - Raymond Chandler, American-born author born
- 1970 - Thea Dorn, German writer born
- 1989 - Donald Barthelme, American author died
- 2001 - Eudora Welty, American author died
- 1802 - Alexandre Dumas père, French writer born
- 1857 - Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer born
- 1864 - Frank Wedekind, German writer born
- 1878 - Lord Dunsany, Irish writer born
- 1895 - Robert Graves, English scholar, poet, and novelist born
- 1916 - John D. MacDonald, American novelist born
- 1834 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet died
- 1897 - Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
- 1905 - Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer born
- 1902 - Eric Hoffer, American philosopher born
- 1907 - Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer born
- 1856 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer born
- 1894 - Aldous Huxley, English-born author born
- 1897 - Paul Gallico, American author born
- 1942 - Roberto Arlt, Argentinian writer died
- 1959 - Rick Bragg, American writer born
- 1784 - Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet born
- 1824 - Alexandre Dumas, fils, French author born
- 1853 - Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer born
- 1870 - Hilaire Belloc, English writer born
- 1908 - Joseph Mitchell, American writer born
- 1844 - Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet born
- 1866 - Beatrix Potter, English author, famous for the illustrated storybooks about Peter Rabbit born
- 1909 - Malcolm Lowry, English novelist born
- 1927 - John Ashbery, American poet born
- 1945 - Jim Davis, American cartoonist, author of Garfield born
- 1605 - Simon Dach, German poet born
- 1805 - Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist born
- 1869 - Booth Tarkington, American author (The Magnificent Ambersons) born
- 1954 - The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of The Lord of the Rings, is published in the UK.
- 1975 - James Blish, American writer died
- 1715 - Nahum Tate, Irish poet died
- 1771 - Thomas Gray, English poet and letter-writer died
- 1818 - Emily Brontë, English novelist (Wuthering Heights) born
- 1904 - Salvador Novo, Mexican writer and poet born
- 1971 - Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet died
- 1843 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet born
- 1904 - Brett Halliday, American writer born
- 1929 - Lynne Reid Banks, British author born
- 1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer born
- 1952 - João Barreiros, Portuguese writer born
- 1965 - J. K. Rowling, British novelist (Harry Potter series) born
- 2001 - Poul Anderson, American author died