Category: Writers and Writing

Anne Frank

Anne Frank was born on this day in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her family moved to the Amsterdam in 1933, among the over 300,000 Jews who fled Germany between the rise of Hitler and the onset of WW2. Nevertheless, the Netherlands fell to the Nazis in 1940. Eventually Anne and her family went into hiding in 1942. While hiding in the “Secret Annex,” Anne would write what would become perhaps the most famous diary in history, published after the war as The Diary of a Young Girl. The Franks were betrayed, discovered, and arrested, in 1944. Anne and her sister perished in Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi death camp, in 1945. Most of her family ended up numbered among the more than 100,000 Dutch Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust, although her father survived. It was he who discovered Anne’s diary and was able to have it published so that many generations may be enriched by it.

Find out more:

Anne Frank The Writer

Anne Frank House

Anne Frank Fonds (Foundation)

Ursula K. Le Guin

Legendary American writer Ursula K. Le Guin was born on this day in 1929. Le Guin is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of her generation. She is probably best known for her Fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea (1968). Le Guin was also a master of Science Fiction, winning numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards. Her novels The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and The Dispossessed (1974), both achieved the double honour, winning both the Hugo and the Nebula. Ursula K. Le Guin died in 2018.

Richard Wagamese

Richard Wagamese, the celebrated Indigenous Canadian writer, was born October 14, 1955. Wagamese was Ojibwe and a member of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. He was born in Ontario and lived there for much of his life. In later years he lived in British Columbia, where he died in 2017 at the the age of 61. Keeper’N Me was his debut novel, published in 1994. Richard Wagamese was perhaps best known for his 2012 novel Indian Horse.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on this day in 1874 on Prince Edward Island. Montgomery is best known the author of the beloved novel Anne of Green Gables. Montomgery wrote 20 novels, hundreds of poems and more. Perhaps her greatest honour came when Anne of Green Gables won the inaugural tournament of Young Adult Lit March Madness at LTSS in 2022.

Kazuo Ishiguro

Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro was born on this day in 1954. Ishiguro was born in Japan, but moved to the U.K. with his parents when he was five years old. He grew up to become one of most critically acclaimed authors in the English language, winning a variety of prestigious awards including the Booker Prize in 1989 for his novel, The Remains of the Day, and, for his entire body of work, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.

Find out more:

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest writer in the English language, was born on this day in 1564.

Maybe. We are not sure. In fact, there is much we don’t know about Shakespeare. Some don’t think that he wrote the plays that are attributed to him, or that he even existed,. This might not even be a picture of him. 

Learn more about Shakespeare and the debate surrounding his identity.

More importantly, take the opportunity to enjoy the plays that he wrote, (maybe?) . You can read the plays in school, but to really enjoy them to need to see them performed. Best of all, go to see the plays live and in person, to fully experience the wonder and joy of Shakespeare.

Burns Nights

The beloved Scottish poet Robert Burns, or “Rabbie Burns,” was born on this day in 1759. From Scotland to all parts of the world where you will find people with Scottish roots, Burns Night is not just a celebration of the man, and his poetry, but also of Scottish heritage.

Also called a Burns Supper, Burns Night is: “a celebration of the life and works of the poet Robert Burns; Scottish by birth and held in fond regard by Scots all over the world, his life and poetry speak to the struggles common to all people. It is an evening of food, drink, entertainment, and friendship.  It is an event that transcends time, geographical borders, political, and religious beliefs to bring people together in celebration of the everyman.” (From burnsnight.net)

For more information on Robbie Burns and “Burns Night”:

RobertBurns.org

Burns Night at Scotland.org

Robbie Burns Tribute