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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 3 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 #101)

  1. 101Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaNovelist of The Time of the Hero and The Feast of the Goat, awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.🇵🇪Peruvian · Born March 28, 1936 · Died April 13, 2025View profile
  2. 102Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaDramatist and poet who wrote the rural tragedy Blood Wedding and the verse collection Gypsy Ballads.🇪🇸Spanish · Born June 5, 1898 · Died August 17, 1936View profile
  3. 103Muhammad IqbalMuhammad IqbalPoet and philosopher whose Urdu and Persian verse inspired the idea of a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia.British Indian · Born November 9, 1877 · Died April 21, 1938View profile
  4. 104Ivo AndrićIvo AndrićWon the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature and is best remembered for the novel The Bridge on the Drina.Yugoslav · Born October 9, 1892 · Died March 13, 1975View profile
  5. 105Naguib MahfouzNaguib MahfouzChronicler of Cairo life whose Cairo Trilogy helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.🇪🇬Egyptian · Born December 11, 1911 · Died August 30, 2006View profile
  6. 106Jane AustenJane AustenAuthor of Pride and Prejudice, Emma and four other novels that gently satirise English country society.🇬🇧British · Born December 16, 1775 · Died July 18, 1817View profile
  7. 107Sully PrudhommeSully PrudhommePoet who received the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, recognised for his idealism and technical polish.🇫🇷French · Born March 16, 1839 · Died September 6, 1907View profile
  8. 108Jean de La FontaineJean de La FontaineFrench poet whose verse Fables, adapted from Aesop and others, remain among the most widely read in the language.🇫🇷French · Born June 8, 1621 · Died April 13, 1695View profile
  9. 109Ezra PoundEzra PoundModernist poet whose sprawling, unfinished epic The Cantos occupied him for most of his working life.🇺🇸American · Born October 30, 1885 · Died November 1, 1972View profile
  10. 110Günter GrassGünter GrassAuthor of the novel The Tin Drum, which helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999.🇩🇪German · Born October 16, 1927 · Died April 13, 2015View profile
  11. 111Haruki MurakamiHaruki MurakamiJapanese novelist whose dreamlike books, including Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore, have sold millions worldwide.🇯🇵Japanese · Born January 12, 1949View profile
  12. 112Jean CocteauJean CocteauFrench polymath who directed the film Beauty and the Beast in 1946 and wrote the novel Les Enfants terribles.🇫🇷French · Born July 5, 1889 · Died October 11, 1963View profile
  13. 113August StrindbergAugust StrindbergPlaywright whose Miss Julie and The Dance of Death helped shape naturalist and expressionist theatre.🇸🇪Swedish · Born January 22, 1849 · Died May 14, 1912View profile
  14. 114Charles BukowskiCharles BukowskiRaw autobiographical poems and the novel Post Office made him a chronicler of Los Angeles low life.German-American · Born August 16, 1920 · Died March 9, 1994View profile
  15. 115Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftSatirist who wrote Gulliver's Travels, the voyages of a ship's surgeon among tiny Lilliputians, giants and other strange peoples.Kingdom of Ireland · Born November 30, 1667 · Died October 19, 1745View profile
  16. 116Paul VerlainePaul VerlaineSymbolist poet of Poèmes saturniens and Romances sans paroles, remembered for his musical verse and stormy relationship with Rimbaud.🇫🇷French · Born March 30, 1844 · Died January 8, 1896View profile
  17. 117Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollWrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, classics of nonsense fiction for children.🇬🇧British · Born January 27, 1832 · Died January 14, 1898View profile
  18. 118Boris PasternakBoris PasternakWrote the novel Doctor Zhivago, which led to his Nobel Prize in Literature and pressure from the Soviet authorities to decline it.🇷🇺Russian · Born February 10, 1890 · Died May 30, 1960View profile
  19. 119Dr. SeussDr. SeussChildren's author and illustrator whose rhyming books, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, became classics.🇺🇸American · Born March 2, 1904 · Died September 24, 1991View profile
  20. 120Yukio MishimaYukio MishimaNovelist behind Confessions of a Mask and The Sea of Fertility, who died by ritual suicide after a failed coup attempt.🇯🇵Japanese · Born January 14, 1925 · Died November 25, 1970View profile
  21. 121Karl Adolph GjellerupKarl Adolph GjellerupShared the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature with Henrik Pontoppidan for his poetry and novels.🇩🇰Danish · Born June 2, 1857 · Died October 11, 1919View profile
  22. 122E. T. A. HoffmannE. T. A. HoffmannRomantic writer of eerie tales, including "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", which inspired Tchaikovsky's famous ballet.Prussian · Born January 24, 1776 · Died June 25, 1822View profile
  23. 123Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de BergeracDuelling libertine writer whose satirical voyages to the Moon and Sun inspired early science fiction and Edmond Rostand's famous play.🇫🇷French · Born March 6, 1619 · Died July 28, 1655View profile
  24. 124Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovWrote the controversial novel Lolita, along with Pale Fire and Pnin, after establishing himself in Russian as Vladimir Sirin.Russian-American · Born April 10, 1899 · Died July 2, 1977View profile
  25. 125Henry David ThoreauHenry David ThoreauWrote Walden, an account of living simply in the woods, and the essay Civil Disobedience.🇺🇸American · Born July 12, 1817 · Died May 6, 1862View profile
  26. 126Emily BrontëEmily BrontëAuthor of the single novel Wuthering Heights, a tale of Heathcliff and Catherine set on the Yorkshire moors.🇬🇧British · Born July 30, 1818 · Died December 19, 1848View profile
  27. 127Carlo CollodiCarlo CollodiCreator of Pinocchio, the wooden puppet whose adventures became one of Italy's most translated children's stories.Sardinian · Born November 24, 1826 · Died October 26, 1890View profile
  28. 128Yasunari KawabataYasunari KawabataNovelist of Snow Country and The Sound of the Mountain who became the first Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.🇯🇵Japanese · Born June 11, 1899 · Died April 16, 1972View profile
  29. 129H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftCreated the Cthulhu Mythos, a body of cosmic horror tales first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales.🇺🇸American · Born August 20, 1890 · Died March 15, 1937View profile
  30. 130Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettPlaywright whose Waiting for Godot became a defining work of the Theatre of the Absurd, earning him the 1969 Nobel Prize.🇮🇪Irish · Born April 13, 1906 · Died December 22, 1989View profile
  31. 131Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyNovelist who wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a Gothic story often regarded as one of the first works of science fiction.🇬🇧British · Born August 30, 1797 · Died February 1, 1851View profile
  32. 132Eugène IonescoEugène IonescoDramatist of the Theatre of the Absurd, famed for The Bald Soprano and Rhinoceros.Romanian-French · Born November 26, 1909 · Died March 28, 1994View profile
  33. 133Ivan TurgenevIvan TurgenevRussian realist whose novel Fathers and Sons gave wide currency to the word nihilist.🇷🇺Russian · Born October 28, 1818 · Died August 22, 1883View profile
  34. 134Henryk SienkiewiczHenryk SienkiewiczPolish author of the historical epic Quo Vadis, which helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905.🇵🇱Polish · Born May 5, 1846 · Died November 15, 1916View profile
  35. 135Jean RacineJean RacineFrench dramatist whose tragedies Phèdre and Andromaque are central works of seventeenth-century classical theatre.🇫🇷French · Born December 22, 1639 · Died April 21, 1699View profile
  36. 136Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume ApollinairePublished the poetry collection Alcools and Calligrammes, and coined the term surrealism while championing Cubist painters.🇫🇷French · Born August 26, 1880 · Died November 9, 1918View profile
  37. 137Tomas TranströmerTomas TranströmerSwedish poet awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011 for compact, image-rich poems of nature and memory.🇸🇪Swedish · Born April 15, 1931 · Died March 26, 2015View profile
  38. 138Elias CanettiElias CanettiGerman-language writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature and wrote the novel Auto-da-Fé and the study Crowds and Power.Bulgarian-British · Born July 25, 1905 · Died August 14, 1994View profile
  39. 139Elizabeth Barrett BrowningElizabeth Barrett BrowningVictorian poet whose Sonnets from the Portuguese contains the famous line "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways".🇬🇧British · Born March 6, 1806 · Died June 29, 1861View profile
  40. 140Heinrich BöllHeinrich BöllNovelist who won the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature and wrote The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum.🇩🇪German · Born December 21, 1917 · Died July 16, 1985View profile
  41. 141NovalisNovalisEarly Romantic poet who wrote Hymns to the Night and the unfinished novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen, with its famous blue flower.🇩🇪German · Born May 2, 1772 · Died March 25, 1801View profile
  42. 142Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonScottish storyteller who wrote Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.🇬🇧Scottish · Born November 13, 1850 · Died December 3, 1894View profile
  43. 143Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingAuthor of The Jungle Book and the poem If, he became the first English-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.🇬🇧British · Born December 30, 1865 · Died January 18, 1936View profile
  44. 144André BretonAndré BretonLed the Surrealist movement, publishing its founding manifesto and the novel Nadja.🇫🇷French · Born February 18, 1896 · Died September 28, 1966View profile
  45. 145Wisława SzymborskaWisława SzymborskaPoet whose precise, ironic verse earned her the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996.🇵🇱Polish · Born July 2, 1923 · Died February 1, 2012View profile
  46. 146William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerNobel Prize-winning novelist of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, set in Yoknapatawpha County.🇺🇸American · Born September 25, 1897 · Died July 6, 1962View profile
  47. 147Anna WintourAnna WintourLong-serving editor of American Vogue and a powerful figure in the fashion world.🇬🇧British · Born November 3, 1949View profile
  48. 148John MiltonJohn MiltonPoet who composed Paradise Lost, the blank-verse epic retelling the Fall of Man.🇬🇧English · Born December 9, 1608 · Died November 8, 1674View profile
  49. 149Charlotte BrontëCharlotte BrontëWrote the novel Jane Eyre, first published under the pen name Currer Bell.🇬🇧British · Born April 21, 1816 · Died March 31, 1855View profile
  50. 150Fernando PessoaFernando PessoaWrote under many invented personas, which he called heteronyms, and left behind the prose collection The Book of Disquiet.🇵🇹Portuguese · Born June 13, 1888 · Died November 30, 1935View 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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