- Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which has since been called the Great American Novel, and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Clemens became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists, and European royalty. - Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 - July 27, 1946) was an American writer and is considered to have acted as a catalyst in the development of modern art and literature. She spent most of her life in France. - Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an American Black Muslim minister and spokesman for the Nation of Islam. After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and became a Sunni Muslim; he also founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (June 28, 1712 - July 2, 1778) was a Genevan philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. Rousseau also made important contributions to music both as a theorist and as a composer. - Margery Kempe
Margery Kempe is known for writing "The Book of Margery Kempe", a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. This book chronicles, to some extent, her extensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe and Asia. - Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. In India, he is recognized as the "Father of the Nation" and October 2nd, his birthday, is commemorated each year as "Gandhi Jayanti", a national holiday. On 15 June 2007, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring October 2 to be the "International Day of Non-Violence." As a British-educated lawyer, … - Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt was one of those teachers who fell into the job whilst secretly wishing he could do something else (in his case, a writer - an ambition he has now achieved). As a result this is a curious memoir of a man who has spent many years reluctantly at the chalk face. He conveys something of the workload of a typical classroom teacher: all that lesson planning and marking; and also the difficulties of idealistic teacher battling with technocratic school authorities. - Alice B. Toklas
Alice B. Toklas was the life partner of writer Gertrude Stein. - Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May, 1859 - 7 July, 1930) was a Scottish born author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. - Jim Carroll
Jim Carroll (born August 1, 1950 in New York City) is an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll is best known for his 1978 autobiographical work "The Basketball Diaries", which was made into a movie in 1995 starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Raised in New York City, Carroll attended several Catholic Grammar Schools from 1955 to 1963. - Leon Trotsky
"' (– August 21 1940), born Leon Davidovich Bronstein"', was a Ukrainian-born Jewish Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was an influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"'"',, (28 August 1749 - 22 March 1832) was a German polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, Humanism, science, and painting. His most enduring work, the two-part dramatic poem "Faust", is considered one of the peaks of world literature. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the bildungsroman "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship", … - Gerald Vizenor
Gerald Robert Vizenor (born 1934) is a Native American (Anishinaabe) writer, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. One of the most prolific Native American writers, with over 25 books to his name, Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. Vizenor is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, … - G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy, and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. - Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American socialist organizer, professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Davis's main association however, was her membership in the Communist Party USA. She first achieved nationwide notoriety when she was linked to the murder of judge Harold Haley during an attempted Black Panther prison break; she fled underground, … - Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer (November 21, 1902 (see notes below) – July 24, 1991) was a Nobel Prize-winning Polish born American writer of both short stories and novels. He wrote in Yiddish. - Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician and artist known for his outrageous stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band. His stage name was formed from the names "Marilyn" Monroe and Charles "Manson", showing what he considered the ultimate and most disturbing dualism of American culture. - Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (born in Chimel, Quiché department, January 9, 1959) is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the Quiché-Maya ethnic group. She was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. Menchú is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. She is the subject of the testimonial biography "I, Rigoberta Menchú" (1983) and the author of the autobiographical work, "Crossing Borders". - Lucy Grealy
Lucinda Margaret Grealy was a poet and memoirist who wrote "Autobiography of a Face" (1994). This critically acclaimed book describes her childhood and early adolescence experience with cancer of the jaw, which left her with a disfigured face. Grealy also published a collection of essays in 2000, titled "As Seen on TV: Provocations". She was born in 1963 in Dublin, and her family moved to the United States several years later. - Etta James
Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, and jazz singer and songwriter. In the 1950s and 60s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best-known for her 1961 ballad "At Last", which has been classified as a "timeless classic" and has been featured in many movies and television commercials since its release. - Mary Wilson
Mary Wilson (born March 6, 1944 in Greenville, Mississippi) is an American singer best known for her work as a member of the Motown soul and pop group The Supremes. Wilson was the only Supreme who remained in the group from the very beginning in 1959, when the group was known as The Primettes, until the very end, when the group was dissolved in 1977. As a member of the Supremes, Wilson (along with Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and later, … - Scott Carpenter
Malcolm Scott Carpenter is a retired American Naval officer and was one of the original seven astronauts selected in 1959 for Project Mercury. Created by the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Project Mercury was the United States' answer to the Soviet Union's space program. This rivalry eventually became the space race — a contest between the two superpowers to land the first men on the moon and return them safely to earth. - Elizabeth Wurtzel
Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel (born July 31 1967 in New York City) is an American writer and journalist famous for her work in the confessional memoir genre. She has often been compared to Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. - Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 - September 28, 2003) was an American sportswoman who, on August 22, 1950, became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the "color barrier". - David Blaine
David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an American illusionist and stunt performer. He made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. His father was Spanish-Puerto Rican and his mother, Patrice White, was of Jewish and Russian origin. - Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin of Stoke d'Abernon, OM, KBE (April 22, 1916 – March 12, 1999) was an American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. Though born in New York City, New York, he would later become a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and in 1985, Great Britain. - Anne Halkett
Lady Anne Halkett (1623-1699) was a religious writer and autobiographer. - Compton MacKenzie
Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (January 17, 1883, West Hartlepool, England; November 30, 1972 in Edinburgh, Scotland), was an English-born Scottish novelist and nationalist. He wrote the novels "The Passionate Elopement" in 1911, "Carnival" in 1912, "Sinister Street" in 1913/1914, "Extremes Meet" in 1928, "Whisky Galore" in 1947, "Rockets Galore" in 1957 and autobiography "My Life and Times" between 1963 and 1971. - William Taylor
William Taylor (1821-1902) was an American Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1884. - Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress whose career spans over four decades. Faithfull's early work in pop and rock music was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s. After a long absence, she returned with the landmark album, "Broken English". With a recording career that spans over four decades, Faithfull has continually reinvented her musical persona, … - Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. (b. November 28 1929, Detroit, Michigan) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label and its many subsidiaries. - Angela Bowie
Angela Bowie, most commonly known as Angie Bowie, was born 1949 in Cyprus, as Mary Angela Barnett. She is an American citizen who has been a covergirl, model, actress, musician, groupie and, most recently, a best-selling author. She has publicly proclaimed that she is proudly and openly bisexual. - Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas (December 8 1868 - February 7 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel "South Wind". - Pretty Shield
- Anna Howard Shaw
Anna Howard Shaw, (February 14, 1847 - July 2, 1919) was a leading United States civil rights leader; a physician; and the first female Methodist minister in the United States (1880). She was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, but was brought to the United States as a small child. She studied at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, 1872-1875, graduated from the Boston University School of Theology in 1878, and received an M.D. from Boston University in 1885. - W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16 1873 - March 28 1958) was a blues composer and musician, often known as "the Father of the Blues." W. C. Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Though he was one of many musicians who played the style of music that is distinctively American, he is credited with giving it its contemporary form not only because he was able to notate his music for publication and hence, posterity, … - Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda (Bengali: পরমহংস যোগানন্দ "Pôromôhongsho Joganondo", Hindi: परमहंस योगानन्द; January 5, 1893-March 7, 1952), was an Indian yogi and guru. He was instrumental in bringing the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga to the West. His book, "Autobiography of a Yogi", has introduced several generations of readers to the teachings of yoga and Hinduism. - Otto Jespersen
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen (July 16, 1860-April 30, 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin. He also studied linguistics at Oxford. Jespersen was a professor of English at Copenhagen University from 1893 to 1925. - Brander Matthews
James Brander Matthews (born February 21, 1852 in New Orleans; died March 31, 1929 in New York City), was a U.S. writer and educator. Matthews was the first U.S. professor of dramatic literature. He graduated from Columbia College in 1871 and from Columbia Law School in 1873, but turned to a literary career. From 1892 to 1900 he was professor of literature at Columbia, and thereafter held the chair of dramatic literature. - Jung Chang
Jung Chang (born March 25, 1952) is a Chinese-born British writer, best known for her family autobiography "Wild Swans", selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in mainland China. Her 832-page biography of Mao Zedong, "Mao: The Unknown Story", written with her husband, the British Soviet historian Jon Halliday, was published in June 2005 and is a highly critical description of Mao Zedong's life and work.
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