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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 16 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 #751)

  1. 751James PattersonJames PattersonProlific thriller writer who created the Alex Cross novels, beginning with Along Came a Spider.🇺🇸American · Born March 22, 1947View profile
  2. 752Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'oNgũgĩ wa Thiong'oWrote Petals of Blood and Decolonising the Mind, urging African writers to use African languages.🇰🇪Kenyan · Born January 5, 1938 · Died May 28, 2025View profile
  3. 753Bulat OkudzhavaBulat OkudzhavaGuitar-accompanied songs such as "Paper Soldier" made him the leading voice of the Soviet bard tradition.🇷🇺Russian · Born May 9, 1924 · Died June 12, 1997View profile
  4. 754James BaldwinJames BaldwinWrote Go Tell It on the Mountain and The Fire Next Time, essays confronting race in America.🇺🇸American · Born August 2, 1924 · Died December 1, 1987View profile
  5. 755Cees NooteboomCees NooteboomDutch novelist and travel writer whose novel Rituals is among the best-known Dutch books of its era.🇳🇱Dutch · Born July 31, 1933 · Died February 11, 2026View profile
  6. 756Machado de AssisMachado de AssisNovelist whose Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas and Dom Casmurro brought ironic, modern techniques to Brazilian fiction.🇧🇷Brazilian · Born June 21, 1839 · Died September 29, 1908View profile
  7. 757Sergey MikhalkovSergey MikhalkovWrote the lyrics of the Soviet national anthem in 1943, and later rewrote words for the post-Soviet Russian anthem.🇷🇺Russian · Born February 28, 1913 · Died August 27, 2009View profile
  8. 758Luc de Clapiers, marquis de VauvenarguesLuc de Clapiers, marquis de VauvenarguesPublished an Introduction to the Knowledge of the Human Mind, a short collection of maxims admired by Voltaire.🇫🇷French · Born August 6, 1715 · Died May 28, 1747View profile
  9. 759William StyronWilliam StyronNovelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and later wrote Sophie's Choice.🇺🇸American · Born June 11, 1925 · Died November 1, 2006View profile
  10. 760Poul AndersonPoul AndersonProlific science fiction writer whose novels, including Tau Zero and The High Crusade, won several Hugo awards.🇺🇸American · Born November 25, 1926 · Died July 31, 2001View profile
  11. 761Alice WalkerAlice WalkerNovelist whose epistolary book The Color Purple earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.🇺🇸American · Born February 9, 1944View profile
  12. 762Salawat YulayevSalawat YulayevBashkir poet and warrior who became a national hero as a commander in Pugachev's rebellion against Catherine the Great.🇷🇺Russian · Born June 16, 1754 · Died September 26, 1800View profile
  13. 763Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughSatirical novelist who wrote Brideshead Revisited and the comic Decline and Fall.🇬🇧British · Born October 28, 1903 · Died April 10, 1966View profile
  14. 764
    JG
    J. G. BallardAuthor of Empire of the Sun, drawn from boyhood internment in wartime Shanghai, and the controversial novel Crash.🇬🇧British · Born November 15, 1930 · Died April 19, 2009View profile
  15. 765César VallejoCésar VallejoHis poetry collection Trilce is a landmark of avant-garde Spanish-language verse.🇵🇪Peruvian · Born March 16, 1892 · Died April 15, 1938View profile
  16. 766Marcus GarveyMarcus GarveyJamaican activist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Back to Africa movement.Colony of Jamaica · Born August 17, 1887 · Died June 10, 1940View profile
  17. 767Sadegh HedayatSadegh HedayatWriter whose short novel The Blind Owl became a landmark of modern Persian fiction.🇮🇷Iranian · Born February 17, 1903 · Died April 4, 1951View profile
  18. 768Vasily ShukshinVasily ShukshinSoviet writer, actor and director best known for the film The Red Snowball Tree.🇷🇺Soviet · Born July 25, 1929 · Died October 2, 1974View profile
  19. 769Joseph AddisonJoseph AddisonEssayist who co-founded The Spectator with Richard Steele and wrote the tragedy Cato, a great success in 1713.🇬🇧English · Born May 1, 1672 · Died June 17, 1719View profile
  20. 770Martin GardnerMartin GardnerLong-running author of the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American, which brought recreational mathematics to a huge general readership.🇺🇸American · Born October 21, 1914 · Died May 22, 2010View profile
  21. 771Mary Wortley MontaguMary Wortley MontaguAristocrat and letter writer who helped introduce smallpox inoculation to Britain after observing it in Constantinople.🇬🇧British · Born May 15, 1689 · Died August 21, 1762View profile
  22. 772Gore VidalGore VidalWrote the historical novels Julian and Lincoln, along with sharp essays that made him a prominent public critic.🇺🇸American · Born October 3, 1925 · Died July 31, 2012View profile
  23. 773Thornton WilderThornton WilderAmerican dramatist whose small-town play Our Town remains one of the most staged works in the country.🇺🇸American · Born April 17, 1897 · Died December 7, 1975View profile
  24. 774Lydia KoidulaLydia KoidulaPoet and playwright of the Estonian national awakening, author of the comedy Saaremaa Onupoeg and the collection Emajõe Ööbik.🇷🇺Russian · Born December 12, 1843 · Died July 30, 1886View profile
  25. 775Ken KeseyKen KeseyWrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and led the Merry Pranksters, a key link between the Beats and the hippies.🇺🇸American · Born September 17, 1935 · Died November 10, 2001View profile
  26. 776Betty FriedanBetty FriedanAuthor of The Feminine Mystique who co-founded the National Organization for Women.🇺🇸American · Born February 4, 1921 · Died February 4, 2006View profile
  27. 777Karin BoyeKarin BoyeSwedish poet whose dystopian novel Kallocain, about a truth drug used by a totalitarian state, is her best-known work abroad.🇸🇪Swedish · Born October 26, 1900 · Died April 24, 1941View profile
  28. 778Korney ChukovskyKorney ChukovskyChildren's poet whose rhyming tales such as Crocodile and Cockroach became staples of Russian nurseries for generations.🇷🇺Soviet · Born March 19, 1882 · Died October 28, 1969View profile
  29. 779Henri de RégnierHenri de RégnierA leading French symbolist poet, he was elected to the Académie française and wrote verse collections such as Les Médailles d'argile.🇫🇷French · Born December 28, 1864 · Died May 23, 1936View profile
  30. 780Seamus HeaneySeamus HeaneyPoet whose collections such as Death of a Naturalist and North drew on rural life, earning the Nobel Prize in Literature.🇮🇪Irish · Born April 13, 1939 · Died August 30, 2013View profile
  31. 781Hunter S. ThompsonHunter S. ThompsonPioneer of gonzo journalism, he wrote "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", a savage and darkly comic account of the American Dream.🇺🇸American · Born July 18, 1937 · Died February 20, 2005View profile
  32. 782Samuel PepysSamuel PepysNaval administrator whose candid diary of the 1660s records the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague.🇬🇧English · Born February 23, 1632 · Died May 26, 1703View profile
  33. 783Hovhannes TumanyanHovhannes TumanyanRevered as Armenia's national poet, he wrote verse and tales such as "Anush" that remain central to the country's literature.🇷🇺Soviet · Born February 7, 1869 · Died March 23, 1923View profile
  34. 784Forugh FarrokhzadForugh FarrokhzadWrote the poetry collection Another Birth and directed The House Is Black, a short documentary about a leprosy colony.Pahlavi Iran · Born January 5, 1935 · Died February 13, 1967View profile
  35. 785Remy de GourmontRemy de GourmontSymbolist writer and critic whose essays and the Mercure de France connection made him a widely read voice in Paris letters.🇫🇷French · Born April 4, 1858 · Died September 17, 1915View profile
  36. 786Neil GaimanNeil GaimanCreated the Sandman comic series and wrote novels including American Gods and Coraline.🇬🇧British · Born November 10, 1960View profile
  37. 787Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O'ConnorSouthern Gothic writer whose works include the novel Wise Blood and the story collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find.🇺🇸American · Born March 25, 1925 · Died August 3, 1964View profile
  38. 788Konstantin SimonovKonstantin SimonovWartime poet and journalist whose emotional poem Wait for Me was widely copied and recited by Soviet soldiers and their families.🇷🇺Soviet · Born November 15, 1915 · Died August 19, 1979View profile
  39. 789Don DeLilloDon DeLilloNovelist who chronicled American paranoia and media saturation in White Noise and the sweeping Cold War epic Underworld.🇺🇸American · Born November 20, 1936View profile
  40. 790Eliza OrzeszkowaEliza OrzeszkowaNovelist and leading figure of Polish Positivism, best known for the realist novel Nad Niemnem, set in the Niemen river region.🇵🇱Polish · Born June 6, 1841 · Died May 18, 1910View profile
  41. 791Vladimir KorolenkoVladimir KorolenkoWrote the story The Blind Musician and campaigned publicly against injustice, notably defending the Udmurt men falsely accused in the Multan case.🇷🇺Russian · Born July 15, 1853 · Died December 25, 1921View profile
  42. 792Marie von Ebner-EschenbachMarie von Ebner-EschenbachNovelist best known for Das Gemeindekind, a socially engaged story of a village orphan.🇦🇹Austrian · Born September 13, 1830 · Died March 12, 1916View profile
  43. 793Henry de MontherlantHenry de MontherlantHis 1942 play La Reine morte remains a staple of French school syllabuses and secured his reputation as a dramatist.🇫🇷French · Born April 20, 1895 · Died September 21, 1972View profile
  44. 794René CharRené CharPoet who fought with the Resistance and drew on that experience for Feuillets d'Hypnos, his wartime notebook of fragments.🇫🇷French · Born June 14, 1907 · Died February 19, 1988View profile
  45. 795Friedrich HebbelFriedrich HebbelWrote the tragedies Maria Magdalena and Agnes Bernauer, key works of nineteenth-century German drama.Duchy of Holstein · Born March 18, 1813 · Died December 13, 1863View profile
  46. 796Thomas MooreThomas MoorePoet whose Irish Melodies included "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Last Rose of Summer".🇬🇧British · Born May 28, 1779 · Died February 25, 1852View profile
  47. 797Harlan CobenHarlan CobenAmerican thriller writer whose Myron Bolitar novels and standalone suspense books have won Edgar, Shamus and Anthony awards.🇺🇸American · Born January 4, 1962View profile
  48. 798John GayJohn GayDramatist whose satirical The Beggar's Opera became a huge stage hit and inspired later musical theatre.🇬🇧British · Born June 30, 1685 · Died December 4, 1732View profile
  49. 799Attila JózsefAttila JózsefHungarian poet whose collections and works such as Meditation on a Landscape made him a defining voice of interwar Hungarian verse.🇭🇺Hungarian · Born April 11, 1905 · Died December 3, 1937View profile
  50. 800José Maria de Eça de QueirósJosé Maria de Eça de QueirósLeading Portuguese realist novelist, author of The Sin of Father Amaro and The Maias, which satirised the society of his day.Kingdom of Portugal · Born November 25, 1845 · Died August 16, 1900View 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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