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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Barker | 1943- | (Patricia, Mary) |  |
| Nikki Giovanni | 1943- | (Yolande, Cornelia) | |
| Hrvoje Hitrec | 1943- | | |
| LaVyrle Spencer | 1943- | | |
| Rose Tremain | 1943- | (Rosemary, Jane) | |
| Neale Donald Walsch | 1943- | | |
| Tor Edvin Dahl | 1943- | | |
| Michael Ondaatje | 1943- | | |
| R. L. Stine | 1943- | (Robert, Lawrence) | |
| Sam Shepard | 1943-2017 | (Samuel) | |
| Marilynne Robinson | 1943- | | |
| Hanoch Levin | 1943-1999 | | |
| Witi Ihimaera | 1944- | (Tame) | |
| Alice Walker | 1944- | (Malsenior, Tallulah, Kate) | |
| Richard Ford | 1944- | | |
| Christopher Hope | 1944- | | |
| Gerrit Komrij | 1944-2012 | | |
| Liza Cody | 1944- | | |
| Kjartan Fløgstad | 1944- | | |
| Milovan Vitezović | 1944-2022 | | |
| Marcia Muller | 1944- | | |
| Katharine Kerr | 1944- | | |
| Jules Deelder | 1944-2019 | (Anton) | |
| Maarten 't Hart | 1944- | | |
| Botho Strauß | 1944- | | |
| Eddy C. Bertin | 1944-2018 | (Charly) | |
| Michael Dorris | 1945-1997 | (Milou, Anthony) | |
| August Wilson | 1945-2005 | | |
| Justin Cartwright | 1945-2018 | (James) | |
| Rainer Werner Fassbinder | 1945-1982 | | |
| Robert Munsch | 1945- | (Norman) | |
| Dean Koontz | 1945- | (Ray) | |
| Patrick Modiano | 1945- | | |
| John Banville | 1945- | | |
| Jacqueline Wilson | 1945- | | |
| Julian Barnes | 1946- | (Patrick) | |
| John Trudell | 1946-2015 | | |
| Sue Townsend | 1946-2014 | (Susan) | |
| James Kelman | 1946- | | |
| Mensje van Keulen | 1946- | (Josien, Francina) | |
| Daša Drndić | 1946-2018 | | |
| Pavao Pavličić | 1946- | | |
| Tessa de Loo | 1946- | (Johanna, Tineke, Martina) | |
| Philip Pullman | 1946- | | |
| Elfriede Jelinek | 1946- | | |
| Marina Warner | 1946- | | |
| Jack Ketchum | 1946-2018 | (Dallas, William) | |
| Francine Rivers | 1947- | (Sandra) | |
| Paul Auster | 1947- | | |
| Yehonatan Geffen | 1947-2023 | | |
| Rupert Holmes | 1947- | (David) | |
| Keri Hulme | 1947-2021 | | |
| James Patterson | 1947- | | |
| Tom Clancy | 1947-2013 | (Thomas) | |
| Michael Ignatieff | 1947- | (Grant) | |
| Sara Paretsky | 1947- | | |
| Salman Rushdie | 1947- | | |
| Octavia E. Butler | 1947-2006 | (Estelle) | |
| Linda Hogan | 1947- | | |
| Danielle Steel | 1947- | (Fernandes, Dominique) | |
| Paulo Coelho | 1947- | | |
| Jude Deveraux | 1947- | | |
| Stephen King | 1947- | | |
| Şadi Üçüncü | 1948-2004 | | |
| Robert Jordan | 1948-2007 | (James, Oliver) | |
| Henning Mankell | 1948-2015 | (Georg) | |
| Eckhart Tolle | 1948- | (Ulrich, Leonard) | |
| Leslie Marmon Silko | 1948- | | |
| Margaret Weis | 1948- | (Edith) | |
| William Gibson | 1948- | | |
| Terry Pratchett | 1948-2015 | (Terence) | |
| Wendy Rose | 1948- | (Bronwen, Chiron, Elizabeth) | |
| Svetlana Alexievich | 1948- | | |
| Andrzej Sapkowski | 1948- | | |
| Ian McEwan | 1948- | (Russell) | |
| Kathy Reichs | 1948- | (Kathleen, Joan) | |
| Slobodan Šnajder | 1948- | | |
| S. E. Hinton | 1948- | (Susan, Eloise) | |
| Goran Tribuson | 1948- | | |
| George R. R. Martin | 1948- | (Raymond, Richard) | |
| Achmat Dangor | 1948-2020 | | |
| Kristina Lugn | 1948-2020 | (Gunhild, Bricken) | |
| Abdulrazak Gurnah | 1948- | | |
| Olivia Goldsmith | 1949-2004 | (Justine, Randy) | |
| Haruki Murakami | 1949- | | |
| Elizabeth George | 1949- | (Susan) | |
| Patrick Süskind | 1949- | | |
| Dubravka Ugrešić | 1949-2023 | | |
| Graham Swift | 1949- | (Colin) | |
| Michèle Roberts | 1949- | (Brigitte) | |
| Ken Follett | 1949- | (Kenneth) | |
| Denis Johnson | 1949-2017 | (Hale) | |
| Slavenka Drakulić | 1949- | | |
| Jill Murphy | 1949-2021 | | |
| Richard Russo | 1949- | | |
| Martin Amis | 1949-2023 | (Louis) | |
| Jane Smiley | 1949- | | |
| Leonida Lari | 1949-2011 | | |
| Anna Wintour | 1949- | | |
| Elena Ferrante | 19xx- | | |
| Josh Malerman | 19xx- | | |
| Ahdaf Soueif | 1950- | | |
| Jancis Robinson | 1950- | (Mary) | |
| Jeffery Deaver | 1950- | | |
| Mercedes Lackey | 1950- | | |
| Lee Maracle | 1950-2021 | | |
| Nora Roberts | 1950- | (Eleanor, Jill, Sarah, Marie) | |
| Kate Grenville | 1950- | (Catherine, Elizabeth) | |
| Timothy Mo | 1950- | | |
| Şakir Bilgin | 1951- | | |
| Michael Scott Rohan | 1951-2018 | | |
| Nedim Gürsel | 1951- | | |
| Joy Harjo | 1951- | | |
| Oscar Hijuelos | 1951-2013 | (Jerome) | |
| Charlaine Harris | 1951- | | |
| Tomson Highway | 1951- | | |
| William Boyd | 1952- | | |
| Douglas Adams | 1952-2001 | | |
| Diane Duane | 1952- | | |
| Orhan Pamuk | 1952- | (Ferit) | |
| Enis Batur | 1952- | (Ahmet) | |
| Rohinton Mistry | 1952- | | |
| Hilary Mantel | 1952-2022 | | |
| Jostein Gaarder | 1952- | | |
| Michael Cunningham | 1952- | | |
| Sebastian Faulks | 1953- | | |
| Tess Gerritsen | 1953- | (Terry) | |
| Thomas Ligotti | 1953- | | |
| Herta Müller | 1953- | | |
| Alan Moore | 1953- | | |
| Magnus Mills | 1954- | | |
| Melanie Rawn | 1954- | | |
| Romesh Gunesekera | 1954- | | |
| Renate Dorrestein | 1954-2018 | | |
| Leon de Winter | 1954- | | |
| Alan Hollinghurst | 1954- | | |
| Louise Erdrich | 1954- | (Karen) | |
| Stieg Larsson | 1954-2004 | | |
| Željko Ivanković | 1954- | | |
| Goderdzi Chokheli | 1954-2007 | | |
| Kazuo Ishiguro | 1954- | | |
| John Grisham | 1955- | | |
| Mo Yan | 1955- | (Moye) | |
| Patrick McCabe | 1955- | | |
| Anthony Horowitz | 1955- | | |
| Barbara Kingsolver | 1955- | | |
| Paul van Loon | 1955- | | |
| Colm Tóibín | 1955- | | |
| Sebastian Barry | 1955- | | |
| Raymond Benson | 1955- | | |
| Geraldine Brooks | 1955- | | |
| Richard Wagamese | 1955-2017 | | |
| Rupert Thomson | 1955- | | |
| Connie Palmen | 1955- | (Aldegonda, Petronella, Huberta, Maria) | |
| Elizabeth Strout | 1956- | | |
| Rosina Lippi | 1956- | | |
| Ha Jin | 1956- | (Xuěfēi) | |
| Philip Kerr | 1956-2018 | (Ballantyne) | |
| Michel Houellebecq | 1956- | | |
| Boris Akunin | 1956- | (Grigori) | |
| Patricia Cornwell | 1956- | | |
| Anthony Bourdain | 1956-2018 | (Michael) | |
| Katherine Applegate | 1956- | (Alice) | |
| C. S. Friedman | 1957- | (Celia, S) | |
| Vinette Ebrahim | 1957- | | |
| Sara Douglass | 1957-2011 | | |
| Richard Powers | 1957- | | |
| Caryl Phillips | 1958- | | |
| Guillermo Arriaga | 1958- | | |
| Benjamin Zephaniah | 1958-2023 | (Obadiah, Iqbal) | |
| Roddy Doyle | 1958- | | |
| Candace Bushnell | 1958- | | |
| George Saunders | 1958- | | |
| Tami Hoag | 1959- | | |
| Laura Lippman | 1959- | | |
| Ben Okri | 1959- | | |
| Julijana Matanović | 1959- | | |
| Bernardine Evaristo | 1959- | (Anne, Mobolaji) | |
| Jonathan Franzen | 1959- | (Earl) | |
| Winona LaDuke | 1959- | | |
| Jon Fosse | 1959- | | |
| Tibor Fischer | 1959- | | |
| Mick Jackson | 1960- | | |
| Velma Wallis | 1960- | | |
| W. Bruce Cameron | 1960- | (William) | |
| Jeffrey Eugenides | 1960- | (Kent) | |
| Jo Nesbø | 1960- | | |
| Ian Rankin | 1960- | | |
| P. C. Cast | 1960- | (Phyllis, Christine) | |
| Kate Saunders | 1960-2023 | (Katharine) | |
| Almudena Grandes | 1960-2021 | (María) | |
| Tim Winton | 1960- | (Timothy, John) | |
| Mirjam Oldenhave | 1960- | | |
| L. J. Smith | c. 1960- | (Lisa, Jane) | |
| Neil Gaiman | 1960- | | |
| Kevin Henkes | 1960- | | |
| DBC Pierre | 1961- | (Peter, Warren) | |
| Trezza Azzopardi | 1961- | | |
| Miro Gavran | 1961- | | |
| Zoran Ferić | 1961- | | |
| Jessica Durlacher | 1961- | | |
| Arundhati Roy | 1961- | (Suzanna) | |
| Olga Tokarczuk | 1962- | (Nawoja) | |
| David Foster Wallace | 1962-2008 | | |
| Chuck Palahniuk | 1962- | (Charles) | |
| Melinda Metz | 1962- | | |
| Pia Juul | 1962-2020 | | |
| Jordan Peterson | 1962- | (Bernt) | |
| Drew Hayden Taylor | 1962- | | |
| Suzanne Collins | 1962- | | |
| Ali Smith | 1962- | | |
| Jennifer Egan | 1962- | | |
| E. L. James | 1963- | (Erika) | |
| Màrius Serra | 1963- | | |
| Michael Chabon | 1963- | | |
| Simon Armitage | 1963- | | |
| Yann Martel | 1963- | | |
| Malcolm Gladwell | 1963- | | |
| Alice Sebold | 1963- | | |
| Damon Galgut | 1963- | | |
| Joost Zwagerman | 1963-2015 | (Johannes, Jacobus, Willebrordus) | |
| Derviş Zaim | 1964- | | |
| Raymond van de Klundert "Kluun" | 1964- | | |
| David Baddiel | 1964- | (Lionel) | |
| Rick Riordan | 1964- | (Richard) | |
| Dan Brown | 1964- | (Daniel) | |
| Lucinda Riley | 1965-2021 | (Kate) | |
| Khaled Hosseini | 1965- | | |
| Heleen van Royen | 1965- | | |
| Zoë Heller | 1965- | (Kate, Hinde) | |
| J. K. Rowling | 1965- | (Joanne, Kathleen) | |
| Kate Summerscale | 1965- | | |
| A. L. Kennedy | 1965- | (Alison, Louise) | |
| Jurica Pavičić | 1965- | | |
| Sherrilyn Kenyon | 1965- | | |
| Ronald Giphart | 1965- | | |
| Nicholas Sparks | 1965- | | |
| Alona Kimhi | 1966- | | |
| Cvetka Lipuš | 1966- | | |
| Philip Reeve | 1966- | | |
| Jodi Picoult | 1966- | | |
| Miljenko Jergović | 1966- | | |
| Amélie Nothomb | 1966- | | |
| Sarah Waters | 1966- | | |
| Sherman Alexie | 1966- | (Joseph) | |
| Joseph Boyden | 1966- | | |
| Cynthia Leitich Smith | 1967- | | |
| Natasha Walter | 1967- | | |
| Muhsin al-Ramli | 1967- | | |
| Jhumpa Lahiri | 1967- | | |
| Etgar Keret | 1967- | | |
| Monica Ali | 1967- | | |
| M. J. Hyland | 1968- | (Maria, Joan) | |
| Junot Díaz | 1968- | | |
| David Mitchell | 1969- | (Stephen) | |
| Elizabeth Gilbert | 1969- | | |
| Tyler Perry | 1969- | (Emmitt) | |
| Colson Whitehead | 1969- | | |
| Sophie Kinsella | 1969- | (Madeleine) | |
| Hisham Matar | 1970- | | |
| Lada Žigo | 1970- | | |
| Julia Quinn | 1970- | (Julie) | |
| Garth Ennis | 1970- | | |
| Daniel Handler | 1970- | (Lemony) | |
| Ante Tomić | 1970- | | |
| Naomi Klein | 1970- | | |
| Ebru Umar | 1970- | | |
| Olen Steinhauer | 1970- | | |
| Jonathan Stroud | 1970- | | |
| Marlon James | 1970- | | |
| Arnon Grunberg | 1971- | | |
| Gillian Flynn | 1971- | | |
| Ivana Šojat | 1971- | | |
| Rebecca Roanhorse | 1971- | | |
| Kiran Desai | 1971- | | |
| Elif Shafak | 1971- | | |
| Marente de Moor | 1972- | | |
| Stephen Graham Jones | 1972- | | |
| Marius von Mayenburg | 1972- | | |
| Marica Bodrožić | 1973- | | |
| Patrick Rothfuss | 1973- | (James) | |
| Cassandra Clare | 1973- | | |
| Codrin Ţapu | 1973- | (Ştefan) | |
| Stephenie Meyer | 1973- | | |
| Sarah Hall | 1974- | | |
| Jeaniene Frost | 1974- | | |
| Camilla Läckberg | 1974- | | |
| Olja Savičević | 1974- | | |
| Leigh Bardugo | 1975- | | |
| Markus Zusak | 1975- | | |
| Jay Asher | 1975- | | |
| Zadie Smith | 1975- | | |
| Brandon Sanderson | 1975- | | |
| Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan | 1976- | | |
| Lilith Saintcrow | 1976- | | |
| Ivica Đikić | 1977- | | |
| Jonathan Safran Foer | 1977- | | |
| John Green | 1977- | | |
| Nalini Singh | 1977- | | |
| Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 1977- | | |
| Danai Gurira | 1978- | (Jekesai) | |
| Perez Hilton | 1978- | | |
| Natalie Diaz | 1978- | | |
| Soman Chainani | 1979- | | |
| Lin-Manuel Miranda | 1980- | | |
| Christopher Paolini | 1983- | | |
| Phoebe Waller-Bridge | 1985- | | |
| Celine Song | 1988- | | |
| Rutger Bregman | 1988- | (Christiaan) | |
| Veronica Roth | 1988- | |