Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (1857 - 1948)

Author. Wrote 60 books and millions of words for magazines and newspapers.  Though she hated her existence in San Francisco and the West, she masterfully captured the spirit and romance of Old California before the Americans came.  She originated the serialized biography.  Family links:  Parents:  Gertrude Franklin Uhlhorn (1837 – 1898)  Spouses:  George Henry B […]

Miguel Angel Asturias (1899 - 1974)

Author. Recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize. Born in Guatemala, the son of Ernesto Asturias, a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, and María Rosales, a schoolteacher. Miguel spent his childhood and adolescence in his native country. He studied for his baccalaureate at the state high school and later took a law degree at […]

Robert Lynn Asprin (1946 - 2008)

Author. Born in St. John’s, Michigan the son of a machinist and a school teacher, he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Employed as an accounts payable clerk by Xerox he became inspired to write his first novel ‘The Cold Cash War’ in 1977 when he became frustrated with bureaucracy and inefficiency. The […]

Adam Asnyk (1838 - 1897)

Polish poet and dramatist. He published his poems in the collections Poezje (1869, 1872, 1880, 1894). He began his literary career in 1864-65. The fullest expression of his intellectualised poetry is the series of 30 sonnets, Nad glebiami (1883-94), owing to which Asnyk came to be referred to as “a poet-philosopher.” This series comprises the […]

Eliot Asinof (1919 - 2008)

Author. He is best known for the acclaimed baseball book “Eight Men Out” (1963), which was based on the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal and became a 1988 film adaptation. Born in New York City, he was educated at Swarthmore College and later played baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system. After serving in the […]

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Author, Scientist. Born in Petrovichi, Russia, his family relocated to New York in 1923, where his father operated a series of candy stores in Brooklyn. He developed a deep fascination with the science fiction genre, and became a legend and a giant in the genre as an author. Beginning with stories sold to magazines by […]

Timothy Shay Arthur (1809 - 1885)

Author. The founder of “Arthur’s Home Magazine”, he used his publication to publish hundreds of short stories, and was known as one of the most prolific writers of the pre-Civil War era. Among his books are “Lights and Shadows of Real Life”, “Tales for Rich and Poor”, “Library for the Household”, “Steps to Heaven”, “The […]

Art Arthur (1911 - 1985)

Hollywood Screenwriter. Arthur started in the business as a Broadway columnist for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, later going to work for the Toronto Star.  He worked on Cecil B. DeMille’s executive staff as well as serving on the executive board of the Writers Guild of America.  He also worked on the Academy Award winning documentary […]

Raymond Aron (1905 - 1983)

Philosopher, Sociologist. After attending the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, he studied Philosophy at the Universities of Cologne and Berlin. In 1938, he obtained a degree in French Language and Literature. In Paris he met Jean Paul Sartre, with whom, at the end of the Second World War, founded the magazine Les Temps Modernes. He […]

Jean Paul Aron (1925 - 1988)

Journalist.

Harriette Arnow (1908 - 1986)

Author. Kentucky-born novelist who portrayed the erosion of traditional rural life in modern, industrial America in unpretentious works like her 1954 bestseller “The Dollmaker,” about a strong-willed country-woman’s struggle to retain her dignity and values in a wartime urban housing project.  Family links:  Parents:  Elias Thomas Simpson (1871 – 1929)  Mollie Jane Denney Simpson (1877 […]

Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888)

Poet. Author of the well-known poems “Dover Beach”, “Sohrab and Rustum” and “The Scholar Gipsy”. He also was a critic and essayist. Died of heart disease. Buried with his son at All Saint’s Church, Laleham, England. (bio by: David Conway)  Family links:  Parents:  Thomas Arnold (1795 – 1842)  Siblings:  Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888)  Thomas […]

George Arnold (1834 - 1865)

Author, Poet. He contributed stories, poetry and articles to the magazine “Vanity Fair” as well as to “The Leader”. He authored what was known as the “McArone Papers”, which brought him prominence as a humorist. His most famous poem became the “Jolly Old Pedagogue”. (bio by: Laurie)

Carlos Arniches (1866 - 1943)

Playwright. He was born in Alicante (Comunidad Valenciana) and died in Madrid. His first script for the musical theater was in collaboration with Gonzalo Cantó and composer Ruperto Chapí for “La leyenda del Monje” which premiered at the Apolo Theater in 1890. He is best remembered for his book “La Señorita de Trévelez” that was […]

Virginia Carol Arndt (1919 - 1980)

Journalist. Served as Women’s editor for the “Army Times.”

Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769 - 1860)

Author, Poet. He is known chiefly for his patriotic songs and his support of German nationalism and unification, but is also controversial due to his anti-French works and some antisemitic writings. He was also well known for his work to abolish serfdom. He was born the son of a freed serf. He attended the Universities […]

Richard Willard Armour (1906 - 1989)

Author, Poet.  Family links:  Parents:  Harry Willard Armour (1883 – 1943)  Sue Wheelock Armour (1880 – 1958)  Spouse:  Kathleen Fauntleroy Stevens Armour (1905 – 2007)* *Calculated relationship

Roberto Arlt (1900 - 1942)

Author. Among his books: “La Fiesta del Hierro,” “EL Fabricante de Fantasmas,” “El Juguete Rabioso,” “Los Siete Locos,” “Los Lanzallamas,” “Un Viaje Terrible,” “Aguafuertes Españoles, ” “El Jorobadito” and “El criador de Gorilas”. (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Hannah Arendt (1906 - 1975)

Political Theorist. Born in Hanover, Germany, to Paul and Martha Arendt. She grew up in Konigsberg and Berlin. She studied philosophy at the University of Marburg. Hannah moved to Heidelberg, where she wrote her dissertation under the existentialist philosopher-psychologist Karl Jaspers on the concept of love in the thought of Saint Augustine. In 1929, in […]

Erich Arendt (1903 - 1984)

Poet. Born in Neuruppin to a schoolmaster and washerwoman, he obtained his Abitur and began to study art at a teachers college in Neuruppin. His first poems were published in 1925. He joined the Communist Party in 1926 and became a teacher in Berlin. In 1933, due to his Communist politics and a half-Jewish wife, […]

Reinaldo Arenas (1943 - 1990)

Author. At the age of 15 he left home and joined the Fidel Castro’s Revolution, (1956 to 1959), and fought against the dictatorial government of Fulgencio Batista.  In the mid-1960s the Castro regime openly persecuted homosexuals and Reinaldo Arenas abandoned the Revolution. His writings were censored and declared anti-revolutionary. Some of his manuscripts were confiscated. […]

Army Archerd (1922 - 2009)

Journalist. Born in the Bronx borough of New York City, he was a writer for the trade magazine Daily Variety for 52 years. A graduate of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1941, he began his career as a mailroom attendant at Paramount Pictures before moving to the Associated Press in October 1945 […]

János Arany (1817 - 1882)

Poet.

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 - 1918)

Poet.  A leader of the Paris avant-garde before and during World War I,  his impact on poetry was similar to that of his friend Pablo Picasso on painting.  His two major books of poetry are classics of French Literature.  “Alcools” (1913) combined traditional verse forms with modern imagery and used snatches of overheard conversation,  slang, […]

Jean Anouilh (1910 - 1987)

Playwright.

Moses Annenberg (1878 - 1942)

Newspaper Publisher. Executive for different Hearst newspapers from 1904 to 1926. He became the owner of the Philadelphia “Inquirer” in 1936.  Family links:  Children:  Walter Hubert Annenberg (1908 – 2002)* *Calculated relationship

Gerald “Jerry” Anglin (1970 - 1970)

Journalist. Canadian magazine and newspaper writer and editor. He was renowned for his stylistic and gentleness of manner. He worked on several prominent national publications including “Chatelaine”, “The Canadian” and “Maclean”s Magazine”.

Jerzy Andrzejewski (1909 - 1983)

Author. He was born and died in Warsaw (Poland). He is best known for his works “Ashes and Diamonds”, “And Darkness Covered the Earth (The Inquisitors)”, “The Gates of Paradise”, “He Cometh Leaping Upon The Mountains”, “Inescapable Ways”, “Mode of the Heart’, “No Man”, “Night” and “All But Gone”.  (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Leonid Andreyev (1871 - 1919)

Author. Born in Oryol, Russia, he studied law at the universities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, but quickly abandoned the legal profession for a literary career. He was mentored by Maxim Gorky,  who helped get his first collection of stories published in 1901,  but their friendship later ended because of opposing political views.  Andreyev’s writing […]

V.C. Andrews (1923 - 1986)

Author. Her works included “Flowers in the Attic.”  Family links:  Parents:  William Henry Andrews (1894 – 1957)  Lillian Lilnora Parker Andrews (1902 – 1993)Cause of death: breast cancer Inscription:DaughterAuthor