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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 6 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 #251)

  1. 251Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleWrote the whaling novel Moby-Dick, which went largely unappreciated in his lifetime but is now seen as a masterpiece.🇺🇸American · Born August 1, 1819 · Died September 28, 1891View profile
  2. 252Max BrodMax BrodWriter and friend who defied Franz Kafka's dying wishes by publishing The Trial and his other unfinished works.🇮🇱Israeli · Born May 27, 1884 · Died December 20, 1968View profile
  3. 253Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de MirabeauHonoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de MirabeauCelebrated orator of the National Assembly who sought a constitutional monarchy in the early years of the French Revolution.🇫🇷French · Born March 9, 1749 · Died April 2, 1791View profile
  4. 254Ernst JüngerErnst JüngerDecorated German soldier whose First World War memoir Storm of Steel became a much-discussed classic of war writing.🇩🇪German · Born March 29, 1895 · Died February 17, 1998View profile
  5. 255Antonin ArtaudAntonin ArtaudTheorist of the Theatre of Cruelty, set out in his collection The Theatre and Its Double, who also acted in films.🇫🇷French · Born September 4, 1896 · Died March 4, 1948View profile
  6. 256Doris LessingDoris LessingWriter whose novel The Golden Notebook became a feminist landmark and who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.🇬🇧British · Born October 22, 1919 · Died November 17, 2013View profile
  7. 257François MauriacFrançois MauriacWon the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature for psychologically intense novels such as Thérèse Desqueyroux.🇫🇷French · Born October 11, 1885 · Died September 1, 1970View profile
  8. 258Italo CalvinoItalo CalvinoItalian novelist celebrated for inventive works such as "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" and "Invisible Cities".🇮🇹Italian · Born January 15, 1923 · Died September 19, 1985View profile
  9. 259Nadine GordimerNadine GordimerSouth African novelist who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature and wrote July's People, confronting apartheid.🇿🇦South African · Born November 20, 1923 · Died July 13, 2014View profile
  10. 260Paul CelanPaul CelanRomanian-born poet writing in German, best known for Death Fugue, one of the most celebrated poems about the Holocaust.🇫🇷French · Born November 23, 1920 · Died April 20, 1970View profile
  11. 261ColetteColetteHer novel Gigi, along with the Claudine series, made her one of France's most celebrated and widely read women writers.🇫🇷French · Born January 28, 1873 · Died August 3, 1954View profile
  12. 262Anne BrontëAnne BrontëNovelist whose The Tenant of Wildfell Hall portrayed a woman leaving her abusive husband, a bold subject for its day.🇬🇧British · Born January 17, 1820 · Died May 28, 1849View profile
  13. 263André MalrauxAndré MalrauxWrote Man's Fate and served as France's first minister of cultural affairs under Charles de Gaulle.🇫🇷French · Born November 3, 1901 · Died November 23, 1976View profile
  14. 264William GoldingWilliam GoldingWrote Lord of the Flies, a novel about schoolboys stranded on an island, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.🇬🇧British · Born September 19, 1911 · Died June 19, 1993View profile
  15. 265SadhguruSadhguruYogi who founded the Isha Foundation in 1992 and its ashram and yoga centre near Coimbatore.🇮🇳Indian · Born September 3, 1957View profile
  16. 266Philip K. DickPhilip K. DickScience fiction author whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was the basis for the film Blade Runner.🇺🇸American · Born December 16, 1928 · Died March 2, 1982View profile
  17. 267
    ME
    Michael EndeGerman fantasy writer whose novels The Neverending Story and Momo became international children's classics.🇩🇪German · Born November 12, 1929 · Died August 28, 1995View profile
  18. 268Friedrich DürrenmattFriedrich DürrenmattWrote the tragicomedy The Visit and the philosophical crime novel The Pledge.🇨🇭Swiss · Born January 5, 1921 · Died December 14, 1990View profile
  19. 269Mario PuzoMario PuzoNovelist who wrote The Godfather and co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplays for Coppola's first two Godfather films.🇺🇸American · Born October 15, 1920 · Died July 2, 1999View profile
  20. 270Svetlana AlliluyevaSvetlana AlliluyevaStalin's only daughter, whose 1967 defection to the United States and memoir Twenty Letters to a Friend drew worldwide attention.🇷🇺Russian · Born February 28, 1926 · Died November 11, 2011View profile
  21. 271Mikhail LermontovMikhail LermontovRussian Romantic poet whose novel A Hero of Our Time became a classic of nineteenth-century Russian prose.🇷🇺Russian · Born October 15, 1814 · Died July 15, 1841View profile
  22. 272Amos OzAmos OzWrote the memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness and long argued for peace with the Palestinians.Israelis · Born May 4, 1939 · Died December 28, 2018View profile
  23. 273Eyvind JohnsonEyvind JohnsonSwedish novelist who shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature and wrote the Olof novels and the Krilon trilogy.🇸🇪Swedish · Born July 29, 1900 · Died August 25, 1976View profile
  24. 274Paul ValéryPaul ValéryPoet and essayist whose long poem La Jeune Parque and verse collection Charmes made him a leading French voice between the wars.🇫🇷French · Born October 30, 1871 · Died July 20, 1945View profile
  25. 275Marguerite DurasMarguerite DurasWriter of The Lover, which won the Prix Goncourt, and screenwriter of Hiroshima mon amour.🇫🇷French · Born April 4, 1914 · Died March 3, 1996View profile
  26. 276Peter DruckerPeter DruckerManagement thinker whose books, including The Practice of Management, helped shape how modern companies are organised and run.🇦🇹Austrian · Born November 19, 1909 · Died November 11, 2005View profile
  27. 277Roald DahlRoald DahlChildren's author behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG, with sales above 300 million copies.🇬🇧British · Born September 13, 1916 · Died November 23, 1990View profile
  28. 278Giorgos SeferisGiorgos SeferisWon the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963 for poetry such as Mythistorema, while also serving as a diplomat.🇬🇷Greek · Born March 13, 1900 · Died September 19, 1971View profile
  29. 279Giuseppe Tomasi di LampedusaGiuseppe Tomasi di LampedusaWrote the novel The Leopard, a posthumously published portrait of a Sicilian aristocratic family during Italian unification.🇮🇹Italian · Born December 23, 1896 · Died July 23, 1957View profile
  30. 280John KeatsJohn KeatsRomantic poet whose odes, including To a Nightingale and On a Grecian Urn, were written in a few brief years.🇬🇧British · Born October 31, 1795 · Died February 23, 1821View profile
  31. 281O. HenryO. HenryMaster of the short story whose tales, such as The Gift of the Magi, are known for twist endings.🇺🇸American · Born September 11, 1862 · Died June 5, 1910View profile
  32. 282
    JH
    Jane HawkingWrote the memoir of her marriage to the physicist Stephen Hawking, which inspired the film The Theory of Everything.🇬🇧British · Born March 29, 1944View profile
  33. 283Pierre-Augustin de BeaumarchaisPierre-Augustin de BeaumarchaisWrote the comedies The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, later turned into famous operas.🇫🇷French · Born January 24, 1732 · Died May 18, 1799View profile
  34. 284Ivanka TrumpIvanka TrumpServed as an adviser to her father in the White House after working in the Trump Organization and building a fashion brand.🇺🇸American · Born October 30, 1981View profile
  35. 285Arthur SchnitzlerArthur SchnitzlerViennese dramatist whose play La Ronde and novella Dream Story probed sexuality and hypocrisy in fin-de-siècle society.🇦🇹Austrian · Born May 15, 1862 · Died October 21, 1931View profile
  36. 286Théophile GautierThéophile GautierChampioned art for art's sake and wrote the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin, whose preface became a manifesto for aestheticism.🇫🇷French · Born August 30, 1811 · Died October 23, 1872View profile
  37. 287Henry MillerHenry MillerWrote Tropic of Cancer, a frank, semi-autobiographical novel that was banned for years in Britain and America.🇺🇸American · Born December 26, 1891 · Died June 7, 1980View profile
  38. 288Gabriele D'AnnunzioGabriele D'AnnunzioPoet and nationalist who led the 1919 seizure of Fiume and wrote the novel The Child of Pleasure.🇮🇹Italian · Born March 12, 1863 · Died March 1, 1938View profile
  39. 289Ivar Andreas AasenIvar Andreas AasenBuilt the Landsmål written standard, later Nynorsk, from rural dialects, publishing a grammar and a dictionary of it.🇳🇴Norwegian · Born August 5, 1813 · Died September 23, 1896View profile
  40. 290
    CC
    Carlos CastañedaHis 1968 book The Teachings of Don Juan launched a bestselling series on supposed shamanic apprenticeship.🇺🇸American · Born December 25, 1925 · Died April 27, 1998View profile
  41. 291Leopold von Sacher-MasochLeopold von Sacher-MasochWriter whose novella Venus in Furs gave its author's name to the term masochism, coined by Krafft-Ebing.🇦🇹Austrian · Born January 27, 1835 · Died March 9, 1895View profile
  42. 292Mikhail SholokhovMikhail SholokhovRussian novelist who wrote the Don Cossack epic And Quiet Flows the Don and won the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature.🇷🇺Soviet · Born May 24, 1905 · Died February 21, 1984View profile
  43. 293Jean GenetJean GenetFrench writer and former petty criminal whose play The Maids and novel Our Lady of the Flowers drew on his own past.🇫🇷French · Born December 19, 1910 · Died April 14, 1986View profile
  44. 294Léopold Sédar SenghorLéopold Sédar SenghorLed Senegal as its first president after independence and co-founded the Négritude movement through his poetry.🇸🇳Senegalese · Born October 9, 1906 · Died December 20, 2001View profile
  45. 295Salman RushdieSalman RushdieNovelist who won the Booker Prize for Midnight's Children and faced a fatwa after publishing The Satanic Verses.🇮🇳Indian · Born June 19, 1947View profile
  46. 296Lucy Maud MontgomeryLucy Maud MontgomeryCreated the red-haired orphan Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, set on Prince Edward Island.🇨🇦Canadian · Born November 30, 1874 · Died April 24, 1942View profile
  47. 297Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe ShelleyRomantic poet who wrote Ozymandias, Prometheus Unbound and the elegy Adonais, among the finest verse of his age.🇬🇧British · Born August 4, 1792 · Died July 8, 1822View profile
  48. 298Margaret MitchellMargaret MitchellAuthor of Gone with the Wind, the American Civil War novel that won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize.🇺🇸American · Born November 8, 1900 · Died August 16, 1949View profile
  49. 299Karl MayKarl MayBestselling German author of adventure novels featuring Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, set in the American West and the Orient.Kingdom of Saxony · Born February 25, 1842 · Died March 30, 1912View profile
  50. 300Sayyid QutbSayyid QutbMuslim Brotherhood thinker whose writings shaped modern radical Islamism.🇪🇬Egyptian · Born September 10, 1906 · Died August 29, 1966View 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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