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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 4 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 #151)

  1. 151Stéphane MallarméStéphane MallarméSymbolist poet whose L'Après-midi d'un faune inspired Debussy, and whose experimental Un coup de dés reshaped how verse sits on the page.🇫🇷French · Born March 18, 1842 · Died September 9, 1898View profile
  2. 152Mikhail BulgakovMikhail BulgakovRussian novelist whose satirical fantasy The Master and Margarita, published decades after his death, ranks among the century's great novels.🇷🇺Russian · Born May 15, 1891 · Died March 10, 1940View profile
  3. 153Taras ShevchenkoTaras ShevchenkoUkrainian national poet whose collection Kobzar helped form modern Ukrainian literature and a sense of national identity.🇺🇦Ukrainian · Born March 9, 1814 · Died February 26, 1861View profile
  4. 154Lope de VegaLope de VegaWrote hundreds of plays, including Fuenteovejuna, defining the comedia of Spain's Golden Age theatre.🇪🇸Spanish · Born November 25, 1562 · Died August 27, 1635View profile
  5. 155John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckWrote The Grapes of Wrath, the Depression-era novel of migrant farmers, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.🇺🇸American · Born February 27, 1902 · Died December 20, 1968View profile
  6. 156Adam MickiewiczAdam MickiewiczWrote the epic poem Pan Tadeusz, regarded as the great national work of Polish literature.🇵🇱Polish · Born December 24, 1798 · Died November 26, 1855View profile
  7. 157Sigrid UndsetSigrid UndsetNorwegian novelist awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature, best known for her medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter.🇳🇴Norwegian · Born May 20, 1882 · Died June 10, 1949View profile
  8. 158Halldór LaxnessHalldór LaxnessIcelandic novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955, best known for the epic Independent People.🇮🇸Icelandic · Born April 23, 1902 · Died February 8, 1988View profile
  9. 159Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonWrote dozens of novels featuring Inspector Maigret, the pipe-smoking Paris police detective, alongside many psychological novels.🇧🇪Belgian · Born February 13, 1903 · Died September 4, 1989View profile
  10. 160Tove JanssonTove JanssonCreator of the Moomins, the gentle troll family who starred in her children's books and comic strips.🇫🇮Finn · Born August 9, 1914 · Died June 27, 2001View profile
  11. 161Johannes V. JensenJohannes V. JensenDanish novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944 and wrote the cycle The Long Journey.🇩🇰Danish · Born January 20, 1873 · Died November 25, 1950View profile
  12. 162François-Auguste-René de ChateaubriandFrançois-Auguste-René de ChateaubriandShaped French Romanticism with Génie du christianisme and the posthumously published memoir Mémoires d'outre-tombe.🇫🇷French · Born September 4, 1768 · Died July 4, 1848View profile
  13. 163Orhan PamukOrhan PamukTurkish novelist who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, with books such as My Name Is Red and Snow.🇹🇷Turkish · Born June 7, 1952View profile
  14. 164Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinLyric poet of German Romanticism whose odes and the novel Hyperion later made him a major influence on modern poetry.Württembergian · Born March 20, 1770 · Died June 6, 1843View profile
  15. 165Joseph ConradJoseph ConradNovelist who wrote Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim in English, his third language, drawing on his years at sea.🇬🇧British · Born December 3, 1857 · Died August 3, 1924View profile
  16. 166Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyWrote the dystopian novel Brave New World, imagining a society controlled through engineered pleasure and conditioning.🇬🇧British · Born July 26, 1894 · Died November 22, 1963View profile
  17. 167Imre KertészImre KertészHungarian author of "Fatelessness", a novel drawn from Holocaust experience, he became the first Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.🇭🇺Hungarian · Born November 9, 1929 · Died March 31, 2016View profile
  18. 168David WoodardDavid WoodardArtist and conductor known for reviving the Dreamachine flicker device and for provocative performance works.🇺🇸American · Born April 6, 1964View profile
  19. 169
    Ai
    Ahmad ibn HanbalBaghdad scholar whose teachings formed the Hanbali school of Sunni Islamic law.Born November 23, AD 780 · Died August 2, AD 855View profile
  20. 170
    SA
    Svetlana AlexievichBelarusian author of oral histories such as Chernobyl Prayer, awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature.Belarusian · Born May 31, 1948View profile
  21. 171Terry PratchettTerry PratchettCreated the Discworld series of comic fantasy novels and co-wrote the apocalyptic comedy Good Omens with Neil Gaiman.🇬🇧British · Born April 28, 1948 · Died March 12, 2015View profile
  22. 172Frédéric MistralFrédéric MistralLed the revival of Provençal literature and shared the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature, notably for the epic Mirèio.🇫🇷French · Born September 8, 1830 · Died March 25, 1914View profile
  23. 173Karel ČapekKarel ČapekCzech playwright whose play R.U.R. gave the world the word robot.🇨🇿Czech · Born January 9, 1890 · Died December 25, 1938View profile
  24. 174Carlo GoldoniCarlo GoldoniVenetian dramatist whose comedies, including The Servant of Two Masters, helped reform Italian theatre away from commedia dell'arte conventions.🇫🇷French · Born February 25, 1707 · Died January 8, 1793View profile
  25. 175Pearl S. BuckPearl S. BuckAuthor of The Good Earth, a novel about Chinese peasant life that won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.🇺🇸American · Born June 26, 1892 · Died March 6, 1973View profile
  26. 176George SandGeorge SandWrote the pastoral novel La Mare au Diable and adopted a male pen name to publish prolifically in Paris.🇫🇷French · Born July 1, 1804 · Died June 8, 1876View profile
  27. 177Roger Martin du GardRoger Martin du GardNovelist whose eight-part family saga Les Thibault helped earn him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1937.🇫🇷French · Born March 23, 1881 · Died August 22, 1958View profile
  28. 178Louis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand CélineWrote the dark, slang-filled novel Journey to the End of the Night, a landmark of twentieth-century French fiction.🇫🇷French · Born May 27, 1894 · Died July 1, 1961View profile
  29. 179Torquato TassoTorquato TassoWrote the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata, an imaginative retelling of the First Crusade.Kingdom of Italy · Born March 11, 1544 · Died April 25, 1595View profile
  30. 180Chingiz AĭtmatovChingiz AĭtmatovWrote the novella Jamilia and the novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years.Kyrgyz · Born December 12, 1928 · Died June 10, 2008View profile
  31. 181Lu XunLu XunWrote A Madman's Diary and The True Story of Ah Q, founding works of modern Chinese fiction.🇨🇳Chinese · Born September 25, 1881 · Died October 19, 1936View profile
  32. 182Stanisław LemStanisław LemScience fiction author of Solaris, a novel about an ocean planet that defies human understanding, later filmed by Tarkovsky and Soderbergh.🇵🇱Polish · Born September 12, 1921 · Died March 27, 2006View profile
  33. 183Annie ErnauxAnnie ErnauxFrench writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022 for memoirs such as The Years, which blend personal and social history.🇫🇷French · Born September 1, 1940View profile
  34. 184Gotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim LessingEnlightenment dramatist and critic who wrote the play Nathan the Wise, a landmark plea for religious tolerance in German theatre.🇩🇪German · Born January 22, 1729 · Died February 15, 1781View profile
  35. 185Tristan TzaraTristan TzaraPoet who helped found the Dada movement in Zurich and wrote its manifestos.🇷🇴Romanian · Born April 4, 1896 · Died December 24, 1963View profile
  36. 186Isaac Bashevis SingerIsaac Bashevis SingerYiddish-language storyteller who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978, known for works such as "The Family Moskat".Polish-American · Born November 21, 1903 · Died July 24, 1991View profile
  37. 187Nelly SachsNelly SachsPoet of Holocaust grief who shared the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature with S. Y. Agnon.🇸🇪Swedish · Born December 10, 1891 · Died May 12, 1970View profile
  38. 188Ray BradburyRay BradburyWrote Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel about book burning, and the story collection The Martian Chronicles.🇺🇸American · Born August 22, 1920 · Died June 5, 2012View profile
  39. 189Pedro Calderón de la BarcaPedro Calderón de la BarcaGolden Age dramatist whose philosophical play Life Is a Dream remains one of the great works of Spanish theatre.🇪🇸Spanish · Born January 17, 1600 · Died May 25, 1681View profile
  40. 190J. D. SalingerJ. D. SalingerWrote The Catcher in the Rye, whose narrator Holden Caulfield became a lasting symbol of teenage alienation.🇺🇸American · Born January 1, 1919 · Died January 27, 2010View profile
  41. 191Paul HeysePaul HeyseProlific German writer of novellas and plays who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1910.🇩🇪German · Born March 13, 1830 · Died April 2, 1914View profile
  42. 192William BlakeWilliam BlakeVisionary poet and engraver of Songs of Innocence and of Experience and the poem Jerusalem.🇬🇧British · Born November 28, 1757 · Died August 12, 1827View profile
  43. 193Truman CapoteTruman CapoteWrote Breakfast at Tiffany's and the pioneering true-crime book In Cold Blood, about a Kansas family's murder.🇺🇸American · Born September 30, 1924 · Died August 25, 1984View profile
  44. 194Friedrich SchlegelFriedrich SchlegelCritic who, with his brother, co-founded the journal Athenaeum and shaped the theory of early German Romanticism.Kingdom of Hanover · Born March 10, 1772 · Died January 11, 1829View profile
  45. 195Prosper MériméeProsper MériméeAuthor of the novella Carmen, which inspired Bizet's opera, and a chief inspector of historic monuments in France.🇫🇷French · Born September 28, 1803 · Died September 23, 1870View profile
  46. 196Lou Andreas-SaloméLou Andreas-SaloméWriter and psychoanalyst close to Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud.🇩🇪German · Born February 12, 1861 · Died February 2, 1937View profile
  47. 197W. H. AudenW. H. AudenPoet whose collections such as The Age of Anxiety, which won the Pulitzer Prize, showed great technical range and moral seriousness.British-American · Born February 21, 1907 · Died September 29, 1973View profile
  48. 198Gerhart HauptmannGerhart HauptmannDramatist whose play The Weavers was a landmark of German naturalism and helped him win the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature.🇩🇪German · Born November 15, 1862 · Died June 6, 1946View profile
  49. 199C. S. LewisC. S. LewisOxford and Cambridge scholar who wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first Chronicles of Narnia book.🇬🇧British · Born November 29, 1898 · Died November 22, 1963View profile
  50. 200Osamu DazaiOsamu DazaiWrote the bleak confessional novel No Longer Human, which remains among the most widely read books in modern Japan.🇯🇵Japanese · Born June 19, 1909 · Died June 13, 1948View 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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