Writers & Poets
53 entries in the Writers & Poets compendium.
A
Abu NuwasForemost Abbasid poet of wine, pleasure, and homoerotic verse.Adam MickiewiczPolish Romantic poet and national bard of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.Alejo CarpentierCuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who pioneered magical realism in Latin American literature.Alexander PushkinThe greatest Russian poet and founder of modern Russian literature.Alexandre DumasFrench writer of historical adventure serials.Anna AkhmatovaRussian and Soviet poet whose work witnessed Stalinist terror and memory.
B
Bai JuyiTang dynasty poet, politician, and musician known for vernacular verse and long narrative poems.Ben OkriNigerian-born British poet and novelist, Booker Prize winner.Bertolt BrechtGerman theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet.
C
Carlos FuentesMexico's most celebrated novelist and a key figure of the Latin American Boom.Chinua AchebeNigerian novelist, poet, and critic, central figure of modern African literature.Constantine P. CavafyA Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe.
D
D. H. LawrenceEnglish modernist writer whose works faced censorship for explicit content.Du FuTang dynasty poet and official, known as the 'Poet-Historian' and 'Poet-Sage'.
E
Emily DickinsonAmerican poet whose work was largely unpublished until after her death.Ezra PoundAmerican poet and critic, a major figure in early modernism, and a controversial collaborator in Fascist…
F
Federico García LorcaSpanish poet and playwright of the Generation of '27François RabelaisFirst great French prose author and satirist of giants.François VillonLate medieval French poet and criminal.Fuzuli (poet)16th-century poet of Azerbaijani, Persian, and Arabic works.
G
Gabriel García MárquezColombian writer and journalist, Nobel laureate in literature.GhalibThe poet of love, loss, and philosophy in Mughal India.Gotthold Ephraim LessingGerman Enlightenment philosopher, dramatist, and first dramaturg.Gustave FlaubertThe martyr of style and father of literary realism.Guy de Maupassant19th-century French short story master and naturalist author.
H
Han YuTang dynasty essayist, Confucian scholar, and prose master who shaped Neo-Confucianism.Heinrich HeineGerman poet, writer and literary critic known for his lyric poetry and satirical wit.Henrik IbsenNorwegian playwright considered father of modern drama.Henry JamesAmerican-British author, key transitional figure between literary realism and modernismHenry Wadsworth LongfellowAmerican poet and educator, author of 'Paul Revere's Ride' and translator of Dante's Divine Comedy.Hermann HesseGerman-Swiss poet and novelist, winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature.Honoré de BalzacFrench novelist and playwright, founder of realism in European literatureHunter S. ThompsonAmerican journalist and author who popularized gonzo journalism.
I
Ivan BuninFirst Russian Nobel laureate in literature, master of classical prose and poetry.Ivan TurgenevRussian novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, translator and popularizer of Russian literature in…
J
Jack KerouacBeat Generation pioneer and master of spontaneous proseJack LondonAmerican novelist, journalist, and activist; pioneer of commercial fiction and advocate of socialism and…James JoyceIrish modernist writer known for Ulysses and stream of consciousness.Jane AustenEnglish novelist known for her six novels critiquing the landed gentry.Jean RacineMaster of neoclassical tragedy and the French alexandrine.Jin YongMaster of wuxia fiction and co-founder of Ming PaoJohann Wolfgang von GoetheGerman polymath and most influential writer in the German languageJohn MiltonEnglish poet, polemicist, and civil servant; author of Paradise LostJoseph BrodskyRussian and American poet and essayist, Nobel laureate and United States Poet Laureate.Joseph ConradPolish-British novelist who mastered English prose.Jules VerneFrench novelist, poet, and playwright; creator of the Voyages extraordinaires.
K
Kabir15th-century Indian mystic poet critical of organised religion.Kahlil GibranLebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist.Karen BlixenDanish author of Out of Africa and Babette's Feast, known for her Gothic tales and life in Kenya.Kazuo IshiguroNovelist of emotional force who uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.Kenzaburō ŌeJapanese Nobel laureate whose work fused myth and modern predicament.KālidāsaClassical Sanskrit author, often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright.