Curated category
21st-century American novelists
- Stephen KingStephen Edwin King was born on the 21st of September 1947 in Portland, Maine. His father Donald Edwin King worked as a traveling vacuum salesman after…
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis on the 11th of November 1922. He descended from a long line of German Americans whose family fortune rested on the…
- Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on the 9th of December 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. He grew up as the fourth of seven children and the only son of…
- Jimmy CarterJames Earl Carter Jr. was born on the 1st of October 1924, in the small town of Plains, Georgia. He entered the world at the Wise Sanitarium where his mother…
- Stephen ColbertOn the 11th of September 1974, a ten-year-old boy named Stephen Colbert stood in the living room of his family home on James Island.
- Vernor VingeVernor Steffen Vinge published his first short story, "Apartness", in the June 1965 issue of the British magazine New Worlds. He had just received his B.S.
- Kathleen McGowanKathleen McGowan was born on the 22nd of March 1963. Her first book appeared under her maiden name Kathleen Harkey-Smith in 1997.
- Hunter S. ThompsonHunter Stockton Thompson entered the world on the 18th of July 1937, in Louisville, Kentucky. He grew up as the first of three sons born to Virginia Davison…
- Salman RushdieSir Ahmed Salman Rushdie entered the world on the 19th of June 1947 in Bombay. This city was then part of British India and is now known as Mumbai within…
- Poul AndersonPoul William Anderson arrived in the world on the 25th of November 1926. He was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania to parents who had emigrated from Denmark.
- John GrishamJohn Ray Grisham Jr. was born on the 8th of February 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His family moved to Southaven, Mississippi when he was four years old.
- Jonathan FranzenJonathan Earl Franzen was born on the 17th of August 1959 in Western Springs, Illinois. He grew up in an affluent neighborhood in the St.
- John JakesJohn William Jakes entered the world on the 31st of March 1932, in Chicago, Illinois. His early years unfolded within a city that would later shape his…
- George R. R. MartinGeorge Raymond Martin was born on the 20th of September 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father worked as a longshoreman while his mother's family had once…
- Charlie KaufmanCharles Stuart Kaufman was born on the 19th of November 1958 in New York City to a Jewish family. His parents were Helen and Myron Kaufman.
- Dave WolvertonJohn David Wolverton arrived in Springfield, Oregon on the 28th of May 1957. His family moved to a farm in Monroe when he was six years old.
- Timothy ZahnTimothy Zahn grew up in Lombard, Illinois during the mid-20th century. He attended Glenbard East High School within that same town.
- E. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow was born on the 6th of January 1931 in the Bronx. His parents were Rose and David Richard Doctorow, second-generation Americans of…
- Michael CrichtonJohn Michael Crichton was born on the 23rd of October 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in Roslyn, New York, where he walked to school and rode his bike…
- D. B. WeissDaniel Brett Weiss was born on the 23rd of April 1971 in Chicago, Illinois. His family background traces back to Jewish roots with ancestral lines extending…
- David BenioffDavid Friedman entered the world on the 25th of September 1970, in New York City. He grew up as the youngest of three children in a Jewish family with…
- David BrinGlen David Brin was born on the 6th of October 1950 in Glendale, California. His parents were Selma and Herb Brin, who raised him as a Jewish child.
- Jonathan TropperJonathan Tropper was born on the 19th of February 1970 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He grew up in a liberal observant Jewish home that shaped his…
- Kevin J. AndersonKevin James Anderson was born on the 27th of March 1962 in Racine, Wisconsin. He grew up in Oregon, Wisconsin, where his early life took shape before he…
- Rebecca MoestaRebecca Moesta Anderson entered the world on the 17th of November 1956. Her birthplace was West Germany to American parents.
- Steve Perry (author)Steve Perry arrived into the world on the 31st of August 1947. He grew up in the Deep South of America. His life took him to Louisiana before he moved…
- Raymond BensonRaymond Benson was born in Midland, Texas, in 1955, a place known for its oil fields and wide-open skies, far removed from the smoky London clubs and exotic…
- Gary GygaxErnest Gary Gygax was born on the 27th of July 1938 in Chicago, Illinois. His father Ernst worked as a violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while his…
- Jack VanceJohn Holbrook Vance arrived in the world on the 28th of August 1916. His family lived in a large house on Filbert Street in San Francisco during his early…
- Aaron AllstonAaron Dale Allston arrived in Corsicana, Texas on the 8th of December 1960. His parents were Tom Dale Allston and Rose Binford Boehm.
- James Wyatt (game designer)James Wyatt grew up in Ithaca, New York. He attended Ithaca High School and graduated in 1986. His childhood involved playing role-playing games since the…
- Alan Dean FosterAlan Dean Foster was born on the 18th of November 1946. He began his professional life writing advertisements for a living.
- Billy Dee WilliamsWilliam December Williams Jr. was born on the 6th of April 1937 in New York City. He grew up on 110th Street between Lenox and 5th Avenue, right next to the…
- Claudia GrayAmy Vincent writes under the name Claudia Gray. This pseudonym covers her work across science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and cozy mystery genres.
- George SteinerFrancis George Steiner was born on the 23rd of April 1929 in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. His right arm withered from birth yet his mother insisted he use…