May
- 1829 - José de Alencar, Brazilian novelist born
- 1923 - Joseph Heller, American novelist born
- 1947 - Sergio Infante, Chilean poet and writer born
- 1954 - Joel Rosenberg, science fiction author born
- 1772 - Novalis, German writer born
- 1859 - Jerome K. Jerome, English writer born
- 1873 - Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet born
- 1886 - Gottfried Benn, German author born
- 1890 - E. E. Smith, American writer born
- 1924 - Jamal Abro, Sindhi writer born
- 1989 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer died
- 1835 - Alfred Austin, English poet born
- 1859 - Andy Adams, American author born
- 1891 - Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet born
- 1937 - Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- 1951 - Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer born
- 1715 - Richard Graves, English writer born
- 1938 - Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer born
- 1939 - Amos Oz, Israeli writer, novelist born
- 1940 - Robin Cook, American novelist born
- 1941 - George Will, American writer born
- 1949 - Graham Swift, British author born
- 1846 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author born
- 1890 - Christopher Morley, American writer died
- 1943 - Michael Palin, British writer born
- 1988 - Michael Shaara, American author died
- 1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer born
- 1871 - Christian Morgenstern, German author born
- 1897 - Paul Alverdes, German writer born
- 1915 - Theodore White, American writer born
- 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1812 - Robert Browning, English poet born
- 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer born
- 1867 - Władysław Reymont, Polish writer born
- 1882 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer born
- 1935 - Isobel Warren, Canadian author born
- 1960 - Almudena Grandes, Spanish novelist born
- 1668 - Alain-René Lesage, French writer born
- 1858 - John Meade Falkner, English novelist born
- 1895 - Edmund Wilson, American writer born
- 1914 - Romain Gary, Polish writer born
- 1920 - Sloan Wilson, American author born
- 1928 - Theodore Sorensen, American writer born
- 1963 - Robin Jarvis, British writer born
- 1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author born
- 1920 - Richard Adams, English author born
- 1920 - William Tenn, American author born
- 1921 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet born
- 1934 - Alan Bennett, British author born
- 1977 - James Jones, American writer died
- 1604 - Jean Mairet, French dramatist born
- 1760 - Johann Peter Hebel, German poet born
- 1843 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist born
- 1876 - Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer born
- 1990 - Walker Percy, American author died
- 1907 - Rose Ausländer, German poet born
- 1916 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer born
- 1920 - William Dean Howells, American writer died
- 2001 - Douglas Adams, English author died
- 1700 - John Dryden, English writer died
- 1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet born
- 1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author died
- 1914 - Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet born
- 1933 - Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet born
- 1944 - Q, English writer died
- 1967 - John Masefield, British writer died
- 1970 - Nelly Sachs, German writer died
- 1840 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist born
- 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, English author born
- 1926 - Wallace Breem, British author born
- 1930 - José Jiménez Lozano, Spanish writer born
- 1937 - Roger Zelazny, American author born
- 2001 - R. K. Narayan, Indian novelist died
- 1265 - Dante Alighieri, Italian poet born
- 1817 - Alexander Kaufmann, German poet born
- 1927 - Herbert W. Franke, Austrian writer born
- 1965 - Eoin Colfer, Irish writer born
- 1856 - L. Frank Baum, American author born
- 1890 - Katherine Anne Porter, American author born
- 1891 - Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian writer born
- 1911 - Max Frisch, Swiss author born
- 1954 - William March, American writer died
- 1906 - Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer born
- 1910 - Olga Berggolts, Russian poet born
- 1912 - Studs Terkel, American writer born
- 1917 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist born
- 1929 - Adrienne Rich, American writer born
- 1984 - Irwin Shaw, American author died
- 1155 - Jien, Japanese poet and historian born
- 1794 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer born
- 1836 - Virginie Loveling, Belgian writer and poet born
- 1873 - Dorothy Richardson, English writer born
- 1935 - Dennis Potter, English writer born
- 1785 - John Wilson, Scottish writer born
- 1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
- 1944 - W. G. Sebald, German-born writer born
- 1952 - Diane Duane, American writer born
- 1981 - William Saroyan, American author died
- 1921 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer born
- 1934 - Ruskin Bond, Indian author born
- 1984 - John Betjeman, English poet died
- 2002 - Walter Lord, American writer died
- 1799 - Honoré de Balzac, French novelist born
- 1830 - Hector Malot, French writer born
- 1882 - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian author born
- 1921 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer born
- 1971 - Waldo Williams, Welsh poet died
- 1688 - Alexander Pope, English poet born
- 1880 - Tudor Arghezi, Romanian writer born
- 1916 - Harold Robbins, American novelist born
- 1926 - Robert Creeley, American poet born
- 1808 - Gérard de Nerval, French writer born
- 1841 - Catulle Mendès, French poet born
- 1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer born
- 1885 - Victor Hugo, French poet,novelist and dramatist died
- 1907 - Hergé, Belgian comic book creator born
- 1914 - Vance Packard, American author born
- 1729 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian writer born
- 1891 - Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer born
- 1898 - Scott O'Dell, American author born
- 1906 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer died
- 1910 - Margaret Wise Brown, American author born
- 1921 - James Blish, American author born
- 1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library
- 1855 - Arthur Wing Pinero, English playwright born
- 1899 - Henri Michaux, French poet born
- 1905 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer born
- 1928 - William Trevor, Irish writer born
- 1940 - Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet born
- 2004 - Milton Shulman, Canadian author died
- 1925 - Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet born
- 1927 - Robert Ludlum, American writer born
- 1932 - John Gregory Dunne, American writer born
- 1938 - Raymond Carver, American writer born
- 1949 - Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-born novelist born
- 1977 - Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer died
- 1648 - Vincent Voiture, French poet died
- 1689 - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer born
- 1799 - Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian author born
- 1822 - Edmond de Goncourt, French writer born
- 1915 - Antonia Forest, British children's author born
- 2003 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer died
- 1867 - Arnold Bennett, British novelist born
- 1876 - Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer born
- 1884 - Max Brod, Austrian author born
- 1894 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer born
- 1894 - Dashiell Hammett, American author born
- 1900 - Uładzimir Zylka, Belarusian poet born
- 1912 - John Cheever, American author born
- 1915 - Herman Wouk, American writer born
- 1930 - John Barth, American novelist born
- 1971 - Kaur Kender, Estonian author born
- 1779 - Thomas Moore, Irish poet born
- 1849 - Anne Brontë, English author died
- 1908 - Ian Fleming, English author born
- 1911 - Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian author born
- 1912 - Patrick White, Australian writer born
- 1916 - Ivan Franko, Ukrainian writer died
- 1916 - Walker Percy, American author born
- 1627 - Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer born
- 1874 - G. K. Chesterton, English novelist born
- 1892 - Alfonsina Storni, Argentine writer born
- 1906 - T. H. White, British author born
- 1911 - William S. Gilbert, English dramatist died
- 1933 - Edward Whittemore, American writer born
- 1958 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer died
- 1886 - Randolph Bourne, American writer born
- 1918 - Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet born
- 1922 - Hal Clement, American writer born
- 1951 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author died
- 2005 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer died
- 1773 - Ludwig Tieck, German writer born
- 1819 - Walt Whitman, American poet born
- 1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, French writer die
- 1892 - Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian writer born
- 1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet died
- 1957 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet died
- 1960 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer died