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Famous Writers

The best-known novelists, poets and playwrights in our archive, ranked by historical popularity.

957 writers in our database, ranked by historical popularity. Page 12 of 20.

Most famous writer

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Highest historical popularity score (HPI 93.2)

Most common birth month

February

92 of 957 were born in February

Living vs deceased

119 / 838

12% are still living

Most common nationality

American

186 people, 19% of the list

Editor-written profiles

289

30% have a full original profile so far

The ranked list (from #551)

  1. 551Ninon de LenclosNinon de LenclosParisian courtesan whose salon drew leading writers and thinkers of seventeenth-century France.🇫🇷French · Born November 10, 1620 · Died October 17, 1705View profile
  2. 552
    LA
    Ludwig Achim von ArnimCo-edited the folk-song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Clemens Brentano, a key work of German Romanticism.Prussian · Born January 26, 1781 · Died January 21, 1831View profile
  3. 553Ben JonsonBen JonsonPlaywright and poet of the Jacobean stage, best remembered for the satirical comedies Volpone and The Alchemist.🇬🇧English · Born June 11, 1572 · Died August 6, 1637View profile
  4. 554Jerome K. JeromeJerome K. JeromeEnglish humorist who wrote Three Men in a Boat, a comic account of a Thames holiday.🇬🇧British · Born May 2, 1859 · Died June 14, 1927View profile
  5. 555Friedrich Gottlieb KlopstockFriedrich Gottlieb KlopstockWrote the religious epic Der Messias, which helped open German poetry to a more emotional, personal voice.🇩🇪German · Born July 2, 1724 · Died March 14, 1803View profile
  6. 556Milorad PavićMilorad PavićSerbian writer whose experimental novel Dictionary of the Khazars is arranged like a lexicon and can be read in varying orders.🇷🇸Serbian · Born October 15, 1929 · Died November 30, 2009View profile
  7. 557Ryszard KapuścińskiRyszard KapuścińskiReporter whose books, including The Emperor about Haile Selassie's court and Shah of Shahs, made him Poland's most celebrated foreign correspondent.🇵🇱Polish · Born March 4, 1932 · Died January 23, 2007View profile
  8. 558Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhFrench playwright whose Antigone, staged in occupied Paris in 1944, reworked the Greek tragedy for modern audiences.🇫🇷French · Born June 23, 1910 · Died October 3, 1987View profile
  9. 559Felix SaltenFelix SaltenAustrian author of Bambi, a Life in the Woods, the novel that Disney adapted into its 1942 animated film.🇦🇹Austrian · Born September 6, 1867 · Died October 8, 1945View profile
  10. 560Fatema MernissiFatema MernissiMoroccan sociologist whose book The Veil and the Male Elite examined women's rights and Islam from a feminist perspective.🇲🇦Moroccan · Born September 28, 1940 · Died November 30, 2015View profile
  11. 561Dashiell HammettDashiell HammettCrime writer who created Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and helped define the hard-boiled detective novel.🇺🇸American · Born May 27, 1894 · Died January 10, 1961View profile
  12. 562L. Frank BaumL. Frank BaumAuthor who created the land of Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and wrote many sequels.🇺🇸American · Born May 15, 1856 · Died May 6, 1919View profile
  13. 563Cesare PaveseCesare PaveseItalian writer whose novel The Moon and the Bonfire ranks among the finest works of postwar Italian fiction.🇮🇹Italian · Born September 9, 1908 · Died August 27, 1950View profile
  14. 564Bernard Le Bovier de FontenelleBernard Le Bovier de FontenelleWriter who made science accessible to general readers with Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, and who lived to nearly a hundred.🇫🇷French · Born February 11, 1657 · Died January 9, 1757View profile
  15. 565Joseph of AnchietaJoseph of AnchietaJesuit missionary who helped found São Paulo and wrote a grammar of the Tupi language.🇪🇸Spanish · Born March 19, 1534 · Died June 9, 1597View profile
  16. 566William SaroyanWilliam SaroyanPlaywright who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Time of Your Life, though he famously declined it.🇺🇸American · Born August 31, 1908 · Died May 18, 1981View profile
  17. 567
    RL
    Robert LudlumThriller writer who created Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity, and sold hundreds of millions of books.🇺🇸American · Born May 25, 1927 · Died March 12, 2001View profile
  18. 568Alexander BlokAlexander BlokLeading poet of the Russian Silver Age, remembered especially for his long poem The Twelve.🇷🇺Russian · Born November 28, 1880 · Died August 7, 1921View profile
  19. 569Julius FučíkJulius FučíkCzech journalist executed by the Nazis, author of Notes from the Gallows.🇦🇹Austrian · Born February 23, 1903 · Died September 8, 1943View profile
  20. 570Nikolay KaramzinNikolay KaramzinWrote the twelve-volume History of the Russian State and helped shape the modern Russian literary language.🇷🇺Russian · Born December 1, 1766 · Died May 22, 1826View profile
  21. 571Laura Ingalls WilderLaura Ingalls WilderAuthor of the Little House books, which drew on her pioneer childhood and became classics of American children's literature.🇺🇸American · Born February 7, 1867 · Died February 10, 1957View profile
  22. 572Colleen McCulloughColleen McCulloughHer family saga The Thorn Birds became an international bestseller and was adapted into a hugely popular television miniseries.🇦🇺Australian · Born June 1, 1937 · Died January 29, 2015View profile
  23. 573Wilhelm HauffWilhelm HauffHis fairy tale collections, including Caravan and The Cold Heart, remain popular in German literature despite his early death.Württembergian · Born November 29, 1802 · Died November 18, 1827View profile
  24. 574Nikolai OstrovskyNikolai OstrovskyAuthor of the Soviet classic How the Steel Was Tempered, a widely read socialist realist novel about Pavel Korchagin.🇷🇺Soviet · Born September 16, 1904 · Died December 22, 1936View profile
  25. 575Wole SoyinkaWole SoyinkaPlaywright and poet who became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1986.🇳🇬Nigerian · Born July 13, 1934View profile
  26. 576John BunyanJohn BunyanNonconformist preacher who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory of a Christian's journey that has never been out of print.🇬🇧English · Born November 28, 1628 · Died August 31, 1688View profile
  27. 577Derek WalcottDerek WalcottPoet and playwright whose epic poem Omeros helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.Saint Lucian · Born January 23, 1930 · Died March 17, 2017View profile
  28. 578John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosNovelist whose U.S.A. trilogy used newsreels and collage-like techniques to portray American society in the early twentieth century.🇺🇸American · Born January 14, 1896 · Died September 28, 1970View profile
  29. 579L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardScience fiction writer who published Dianetics in 1950 and went on to found the Church of Scientology.🇺🇸American · Born March 13, 1911 · Died January 24, 1986View profile
  30. 580Miroslav KrležaMiroslav KrležaCroatian writer whose verse collection The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh and his play cycle on the Glembay family shaped Yugoslav literature.🇭🇺Hungarian · Born July 7, 1893 · Died December 29, 1981View profile
  31. 581Antonio MachadoAntonio MachadoSpanish poet of the Generation of '98, celebrated for the collection Campos de Castilla and its reflective landscape verse.🇪🇸Spanish · Born July 26, 1875 · Died February 22, 1939View profile
  32. 582Jamal KhashoggiJamal KhashoggiSaudi journalist and critic of the crown prince who was murdered in the Istanbul consulate in 2018.Saudi Arabia · Born October 13, 1958 · Died October 2, 2018View profile
  33. 583Michael CrichtonMichael CrichtonAuthor of Jurassic Park and creator of the hospital drama ER.🇺🇸American · Born October 23, 1942 · Died November 4, 2008View profile
  34. 584Julian BarnesJulian BarnesWon the Booker Prize in 2011 for The Sense of an Ending, a short novel about memory and regret.🇬🇧British · Born January 19, 1946View profile
  35. 585Hans Jakob Christoffel von GrimmelshausenHans Jakob Christoffel von GrimmelshausenAuthor of Simplicius Simplicissimus, the great German picaresque novel of the Thirty Years' War, published in 1669.Roman · Born March 17, 1622 · Died August 17, 1676View profile
  36. 586Georges BernanosGeorges BernanosWrote the Catholic novel Diary of a Country Priest, a work later adapted for the screen by Robert Bresson.🇫🇷French · Born February 20, 1888 · Died July 5, 1948View profile
  37. 587Yanka KupalaYanka KupalaPoet regarded as a founder of modern Belarusian literature, whose collection The Zither Player helped shape the national literary voice.🇷🇺Russian · Born June 25, 1882 · Died June 28, 1942View profile
  38. 588Stephen CoveyStephen CoveyAuthor and speaker whose self-help book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People became a worldwide business bestseller.🇺🇸American · Born October 24, 1932 · Died July 16, 2012View profile
  39. 589Jens Peter JacobsenJens Peter JacobsenDanish novelist whose Niels Lyhne and Marie Grubbe helped introduce naturalism to Danish literature.🇩🇰Danish · Born April 7, 1847 · Died April 30, 1885View profile
  40. 590Sam ShepardSam ShepardPulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Buried Child who also earned an Oscar nomination for acting in The Right Stuff.🇺🇸American · Born November 5, 1943 · Died July 27, 2017View profile
  41. 591Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsHumourist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a BBC radio comedy that grew into a hugely popular five-book trilogy.🇬🇧British · Born March 11, 1952 · Died May 11, 2001View profile
  42. 592Georg BrandesGeorg BrandesDanish critic whose lectures Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature drove the Modern Breakthrough in Scandinavian culture.dane · Born February 4, 1842 · Died February 19, 1927View profile
  43. 593Jerzy KosińskiJerzy KosińskiPolish-born American novelist whose 1965 book The Painted Bird, about a boy in wartime Europe, caused lasting controversy.🇵🇱Polish · Born June 14, 1933 · Died May 3, 1991View profile
  44. 594Varlam ShalamovVarlam ShalamovDrew on his years in the Kolyma camps to write the short story cycle Kolyma Tales.🇷🇺Soviet · Born June 5, 1907 · Died January 17, 1982View profile
  45. 595
    SA
    Shōkō AsaharaCult leader of Aum Shinrikyo behind the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway.🇯🇵Japanese · Born March 2, 1955 · Died July 6, 2018View profile
  46. 596Robert E. HowardRobert E. HowardPulp writer who created Conan the Barbarian and helped found the sword and sorcery genre.🇺🇸American · Born January 22, 1906 · Died June 11, 1936View profile
  47. 597Ian McEwanIan McEwanNovelist whose book "Atonement" became a bestseller and film, and who won the Booker Prize for "Amsterdam".🇬🇧British · Born June 21, 1948View profile
  48. 598Jean de La BruyèreJean de La BruyèreFrench moralist whose book Les Caractères satirised the manners and vanities of the court of Louis XIV.🇫🇷French · Born August 16, 1645 · Died May 10, 1696View profile
  49. 599Maurice DruonMaurice DruonNovelist who wrote the historical series The Accursed Kings and served as Perpetual Secretary of the Académie Française.🇫🇷French · Born April 23, 1918 · Died April 14, 2009View profile
  50. 600Hans FalladaHans FalladaGerman novelist who wrote Little Man, What Now?, a bestselling portrait of ordinary hardship in the Weimar Republic.🇩🇪German · Born July 21, 1893 · Died February 5, 1947View profile

How we rank and select

  • Ranking: people are ordered by their Historical Popularity Index (HPI) from Pantheon. HPI combines how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about a person, how many page views those articles get, how evenly the views are spread across languages and how long ago the person lived. People Pantheon does not yet cover are listed after them, ordered by our own popularity score (the number of Wikipedia language editions with an article about them).
  • Membership: each person appears in one occupation list only, based on their primary occupation as classified by Pantheon (for example, a queen who wrote poetry is listed as royalty, not as a writer). Kings, queens, emperors, sultans and royal consorts are not listed as politicians or writers: anyone who held a monarch's office on Wikidata, and never served as a president or head of government, counts as royalty. For the few people Pantheon does not cover, we use the primary field recorded in our database.
  • One-line summaries: each summary is an original line written for this site with AI assistance under our editorial rules, then checked against the Wikipedia introduction so no wording is copied.
  • Statistics: every figure on this page is calculated live from our database each time the page loads, so it changes as we add people.

Further reading

Reviewed by the Who Shares My Birthday editorial team.

Last reviewed: October 2026

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