Notable Writers
This list is comprised of some of the most recognizable names from the literary world. Included are novelists, poets, playwrights and essayists. However, those who are primarily considered to be philosophers or academic writers can be found on the lists of thinkers.
| Name | Lifespan | Other Names | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernice Rubens | 1923-2004 |  | |
| Renate Rubinstein | 1929-1990 | | |
| Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi | 1207-1273 | | |
| Salman Rushdie | 1947- | | |
| John Ruskin | 1819-1900 | | |
| Richard Russo | 1949- | | |
| Shota Rustaveli | c. 1160-c. 1220 | | |
| Rafael Sabatini | 1875-1950 | | |
| Nelly Sachs | 1891-1970 | | |
| Marquis de Sade | 1740-1814 | (de Sade) | |
| Françoise Sagan | 1935-2004 | (Quoirez) | |
| Edward Said | 1935-2003 | | |
| Lilith Saintcrow | 1976- | | |
| J. D. Salinger | 1919-2010 | | |
| Sonia Sanchez | 1934- | (Driver) | |
| George Sand | 1804-1876 | (Dupin) | |
| Carl Sandburg | 1878-1967 | (Sandberg) | |
| Aksel Sandemose | 1899-1965 | (Nielsen) | |
| Brandon Sanderson | 1975- | | |
| Andrzej Sapkowski | 1948- | | |
| Sappho | c. 620-570 BC | | |
| José Saramago | 1922-2010 | | |
| Jean-Paul Sartre | 1905-1980 | | |
| George Saunders | 1958- | | |
| Kate Saunders | 1960-2023 | | |
| Olja Savičević | 1974- | | |
| Dorothy L. Sayers | 1893-1957 | | |
| Richard Scarry | 1919-1994 | | |
| Friedrich Schiller | 1759-1805 | | |
| Friedrich Schlegel | 1772-1829 | | |
| Annie M. G. Schmidt | 1911-1995 | | |
| Arthur Schnitzler | 1862-1931 | | |
| George Schuyler | 1895-1977 | | |
| Paul Scott | 1920-1978 | | |
| Walter Scott | 1771-1832 | | |
| Alice Sebold | 1963- | | |
| Giorgos Seferis | 1900-1971 | | |
| Petar Šegedin | 1909-1998 | | |
| Anna Seghers | 1900-1983 | (Reiling) | |
| Sei Shōnagon | c. 966-c. 1017 | | |
| David Seidler | 1937- | | |
| Jaroslav Seifert | 1901-1986 | | |
| Saken Seifullin | 1894-1939 | | |
| Meša Selimović | 1910-1982 | | |
| Maurice Sendak | 1928-2012 | | |
| Seneca the Elder | 54 BC-39 | (Annaeus) | |
| August Šenoa | 1838-1881 | (Schönoa) | |
| Màrius Serra | 1963- | (Roig) | |
| Anna Sewell | 1820-1878 | | |
| Anne Sexton | 1928-1974 | (Harvey) | |
| Elif Shafak | 1971- | | |
| William Shakespeare | 1564-1616 | | |
| George Bernard Shaw | 1856-1950 | | |
| Zalman Shazar | 1889-1974 | (Rubashov) | |
| Sidney Sheldon | 1917-2007 | | |
| Rupert Sheldrake | 1942- | | |
| Mary Shelley | 1797-1851 | | |
| Percy Bysshe Shelley | 1792-1822 | | |
| Sam Shepard | 1943-2017 | | |
| Taras Shevchenko | 1814-1861 | | |
| Carol Shields | 1935-2003 | | |
| Saadi Shirazi | 1210-c. 1291 | | |
| Mikhail Sholokhov | 1905-1984 | | |
| Philip Sidney | 1554-1586 | | |
| Henryk Sienkiewicz | 1846-1916 | | |
| Frans Eemil Sillanpää | 1888-1964 | | |
| Georges Simenon | 1903-1989 | | |
| Claude Simon | 1913-2005 | | |
| Neil Simon | 1927-2018 | | |
| Simonides of Ceos | c. 556-468 BC | | |
| Upton Sinclair | 1878-1968 | | |
| Isaac Bashevis Singer | 1902-1991 | | |
| Nalini Singh | 1977- | | |
| Sunčana Škrinjarić | 1931-2004 | | |
| Ivan Slamnig | 1930-2001 | | |
| Domien Sleeckx | 1818-1901 | | |
| Juliusz Słowacki | 1809-1849 | | |
| Bertrice Small | 1937-2015 | | |
| Jane Smiley | 1949- | | |
| Ali Smith | 1962- | | |
| Cynthia Leitich Smith | 1967- | | |
| Dodie Smith | 1896-1990 | | |
| L. J. Smith | c. 1960- | | |
| Wilbur Smith | 1933-2021 | | |
| Zadie Smith | 1975- | | |
| Slobodan Šnajder | 1948- | | |
| Ivana Šojat | 1971- | | |
| Antun Šoljan | 1932-1993 | | |
| Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn | 1918-2008 | | |
| Celine Song | 1988- | | |
| Susan Sontag | 1933-2004 | | |
| Sophocles | c. 497-c. 406 BC | | |
| Ahdaf Soueif | 1950- | | |
| Wole Soyinka | 1934- | | |
| Muriel Spark | 1918-2006 | | |
| Nicholas Sparks | 1965- | | |
| Anne Spencer | 1882-1975 | (Bannister) | |
| LaVyrle Spencer | 1943- | | |
| Edmund Spenser | c. 1552-1599 | | |
| Mickey Spillane | 1918-2006 | | |
| Carl Spitteler | 1845-1924 | | |
| Johanna Spyri | 1827-1901 | | |
| Dhanpat Rai "Premchand" Srivastava | 1880-1936 | | |
| Gaspara Stampa | 1523-1554 | | |
| Statius | c. 45-c. 96 | (Papinius) | |
| Danielle Steel | 1947- | (Schuelein) | |
| Wallace Stegner | 1909-1993 | | |
| Gertrude Stein | 1874-1946 | | |
| John Steinbeck | 1902-1968 | | |
| Olen Steinhauer | 1970- | | |
| Stendhal | 1783-1842 | (Beyle) | |
| Wallace Stevens | 1879-1955 | | |
| Robert Louis Stevenson | 1850-1894 | | |
| R. L. Stine | 1943- | | |
| Bram Stoker | 1847-1912 | | |
| David Storey | 1933-2017 | | |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe | 1811-1896 | | |
| Lytton Strachey | 1880-1932 | | |
| Botho Strauß | 1944- | | |
| Noel Streatfeild | 1895-1986 | | |
| August Strindberg | 1849-1912 | | |
| Jonathan Stroud | 1970- | | |
| Elizabeth Strout | 1956- | | |
| Snorri Sturluson | 1179-1241 | | |
| Vasyl Stus | 1938-1985 | | |
| William Styron | 1925-2006 | | |
| Kate Summerscale | 1965- | | |
| Jacqueline Susann | 1918-1974 | | |
| Derviš Sušić | 1925-1990 | | |
| Patrick Süskind | 1949- | | |
| Graham Swift | 1949- | | |
| Jonathan Swift | 1667-1745 | | |
| Algernon Charles Swinburne | 1837-1909 | | |
| Madelon Szekely-Lulofs | 1899-1958 | | |
| Wisława Szymborska | 1923-2012 | | |
| Galaktion Tabidze | 1892-1959 | | |
| Titsian Tabidze | 1895-1937 | | |
| Shams Tabrizi | 1185-1248 | | |
| Rabindranath Tagore | 1861-1941 | | |
| Taliesin | ?-c. 600 | | |
| Codrin Ţapu | 1973- | | |
| Ida Tarbell | 1857-1944 | | |
| Booth Tarkington | 1869-1946 | | |
| Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan | 1976- | | |
| Torquato Tasso | 1544-1595 | | |
| Drew Hayden Taylor | 1962- | | |
| Elizabeth Taylor | 1912-1975 | | |
| Sara Teasdale | 1884-1933 | (Filsinger) | |
| Corín Tellado | 1927-2009 | (López) | |
| Alfred Tennyson | 1809-1892 | | |
| Terence | 195-159 BC | (Terentius, Afer) | |
| Marcus Terentius Varro | 116-27 BC | | |
| Jan Terlouw | 1931- | | |
| William Makepeace Thackeray | 1811-1863 | | |
| Maarten 't Hart | 1944- | | |
| Dylan Thomas | 1914-1953 | | |
| Flora Thompson | 1876-1947 | | |
| Hunter S. Thompson | 1937-2005 | | |
| Rupert Thomson | 1955- | | |
| Henry David Thoreau | 1817-1862 | | |
| Wallace Thurman | 1902-1934 | | |
| Tibullus | 55-19 BC | (Albius) | |
| Felix Timmermans | 1886-1947 | | |
| Alvin Toffler | 1928-2016 | | |
| Colm Tóibín | 1955- | | |
| Olga Tokarczuk | 1962- | | |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | 1892-1973 | | |
| Eckhart Tolle | 1948- | | |
| Leo Tolstoy | 1828-1910 | | |
| Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa | 1896-1957 | | |
| Ante Tomić | 1970- | | |
| Zdena Tomin | 1941-2020 | | |
| John Kennedy Toole | 1937-1969 | | |
| Jean Toomer | 1894-1967 | | |
| Marten Toonder | 1912-2005 | | |
| Sue Townsend | 1946-2014 | | |
| Tomas Tranströmer | 1931-2015 | | |
| P. L. Travers | 1899-1996 | (Goff) | |
| Rose Tremain | 1943- | (Thomson) | |
| Goran Tribuson | 1948- | | |
| John Trudell | 1946-2015 | | |
| Jagoda Truhelka | 1864-1957 | | |
| Dalton Trumbo | 1905-1976 | | |
| Marina Tsvetaeva | 1892-1941 | | |
| Tulsidas | 1511-1623 | | |
| Ivan Turgenev | 1818-1883 | | |
| Mark Twain | 1835-1910 | (Clemens) | |
| Anne Tyler | 1941- | | |
| Tristan Tzara | 1896-1963 | | |
| Şadi Üçüncü | 1948-2004 | | |
| Dubravka Ugrešić | 1949-2023 | | |
| Lesya Ukrainka | 1871-1913 | (Kosach, Kvitka) | |
| Ebru Umar | 1970- | | |
| Sigrid Undset | 1882-1949 | | |
| Barry Unsworth | 1930-2012 | | |
| John Updike | 1932-2009 | | |
| Leon Uris | 1924-2003 | | |
| Eduard Uspensky | 1937-2018 | | |
| Paul Valéry | 1871-1945 | | |
| Lorenzo Valla | c. 1407-1457 | | |
| Valmiki | ?-5xx BC | | |
| Raymond van de Klundert "Kluun" | 1964- | (Kluun) | |
| Joost van den Vondel | 1587-1679 | | |
| Willy Vandersteen | 1913-1990 | | |
| Prudens van Duyse | 1804-1859 | | |
| Peter van Gestel | 1937-2019 | | |
| Mensje van Keulen | 1946- | (Meloen, van der Steen) | |
| Kees van Kooten | 1941- | | |
| Paul van Loon | 1955- | | |
| Jacob van Maerlant | c. 1235-c. 1300 | | |
| Heleen van Royen | 1965- | | |
| Carl Van Vechten | 1880-1964 | | |
| Hendrik van Veldeke | c. 1150-c. 1184 | (von Veldeke) | |
| Hovik Vardoumian | 1940- | | |
| Mario Vargas Llosa | 1936- | | |
| Giorgio Vasari | 1511-1574 | | |
| Paul Verlaine | 1844-1896 | | |
| Jules Verne | 1828-1905 | | |
| Dolf Verroen | 1928- | | |
| Simon Vestdijk | 1898-1971 | | |
| Enn Vetemaa | 1936-2017 | | |
| Boris Vian | 1920-1959 | (Sullivan) | |
| François Villon | c. 1431-c. 1463 | | |
| Virgil | 70-19 BC | (Vergilius) | |
| Ida Vitale | 1923- | | |
| Milovan Vitezović | 1944-2022 | | |
| Gerald Vizenor | 1934- | | |
| Bettina von Arnim | 1785-1859 | | |
| Hoimar von Ditfurth | 1921-1989 | | |
| Wolfram von Eschenbach | c. 1170-c. 1220 | | |
| Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg "Novalis" | 1772-1801 | | |
| Heinrich von Kleist | 1777-1811 | | |
| Marius von Mayenburg | 1972- | | |
| Kurt Vonnegut | 1922-2007 | | |
| Leopold von Sacher-Masoch | 1836-1895 | | |
| Adolf Friedrich von Schack | 1815-1894 | | |
| Mihály Vörösmarty | 1800-1855 | | |
| Jan Vos | 1612-1667 | | |
| Irena Vrkljan | 1930-2021 | | |
| Richard Wagamese | 1955-2017 | | |
| Derek Walcott | 1930-2017 | | |
| Alice Walker | 1944- | | |
| Margaret Walker | 1915-1998 | (Alexander) | |
| David Foster Wallace | 1962-2008 | | |
| Phoebe Waller-Bridge | 1985- | | |
| Robert James Waller | 1939-2017 | | |
| Velma Wallis | 1960- | | |
| Neale Donald Walsch | 1943- | | |
| Martin Walser | 1927-2023 | | |
| Robert Walser | 1878-1956 | | |
| Mika Waltari | 1908-1979 | | |
| Natasha Walter | 1967- | | |
| Wang Wei | 699-759 | | |
| Marina Warner | 1946- | | |
| Robert Penn Warren | 1905-1989 | | |
| Sarah Waters | 1966- | | |
| Mary Webb | 1881-1927 | (Meredith) | |
| Margaret Weis | 1948- | | |
| James Welch | 1940-2003 | | |
| Fay Weldon | 1931-2023 | (Birkinshaw) | |
| Manly Wade Wellman | 1903-1986 | | |
| H. G. Wells | 1866-1946 | | |
| Eudora Welty | 1909-2001 | | |
| Dorothy West | 1907-1998 | | |
| Edith Wharton | 1862-1937 | | |
| William Wharton | 1925-2008 | (Du Aime) | |
| Ellen G. White | 1827-1915 | | |
| E. B. White | 1899-1985 | | |
| Patrick White | 1912-1990 | | |
| Colson Whitehead | 1969- | | |
| Brand Whitlock | 1869-1934 | | |
| Walt Whitman | 1819-1892 | | |
| John Edgar Wideman | 1941- | | |
| Elie Wiesel | 1928-2016 | | |
| Richard Wilbur | 1921-2017 | | |
| Oscar Wilde | 1854-1900 | | |
| Thornton Wilder | 1897-1975 | | |
| William Trevor | 1928-2016 | (Cox) | |
| Tennessee Williams | 1911-1983 | | |
| William Carlos Williams | 1883-1963 | | |
| August Wilson | 1945-2005 | | |
| Jacqueline Wilson | 1945- | (Aitken) | |
| R. D. Wingfield | 1928-2007 | | |
| Tim Winton | 1960- | | |
| Anna Wintour | 1949- | | |
| P. G. Wodehouse | 1881-1975 | | |
| Christa Wolf | 1929-2011 | | |
| Beppe Wolgers | 1928-1986 | | |
| Jan Wolkers | 1925-2007 | | |
| Kathleen E. Woodiwiss | 1939-2007 | (Hogg) | |
| Virginia Woolf | 1882-1941 | | |
| William Wordsworth | 1770-1850 | | |
| Herman Wouk | 1915-2019 | | |
| Richard Wright | 1908-1960 | | |
| Wu Cheng'en | c. 1500-1582 | | |
| Elinor Wylie | 1885-1928 | (Hoyt) | |
| Hedd Wyn | 1887-1917 | (Evans) | |
| Stanisław Wyspiański | 1869-1907 | | |
| Guzel Yakhina | 1977- | | |
| William Butler Yeats | 1865-1939 | | |
| Ivan Yefremov | 1908-1972 | | |
| Frank Yerby | 1916-1991 | | |
| Sergei Yesenin | 1895-1925 | | |
| Jane Yolen | 1939- | | |
| Marguerite Yourcenar | 1903-1987 | | |
| Derviş Zaim | 1964- | | |
| Benjamin Zephaniah | 1958-2023 | (Springer) | |
| Lada Žigo | 1970- | | |
| Marion Zimmer Bradley | 1930-1999 | | |
| Zitkála-Šá | 1876-1938 | (Simmons, Bonnin) | |
| Émile Zola | 1840-1902 | | |
| Petar Zoranić | 1508-1569 | | |
| Markus Zusak | 1975- | | |
| Cvijeta Zuzorić | c. 1552-1648 | (Zuzzeri) | |
| Joost Zwagerman | 1963-2015 | | |
| Stefan Zweig | 1881-1942 | |