You can find and buy the books relating to our author birthdays at the LitStack Bookshop on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.
Here are seven author birthdays for this week.
Check out which authors are your favorites, and find out who shares your day.
In This Week’s Author Birthdays
Khaled Hosseini – March 4
On this day, March 4, in 1965, Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he lived until age 11. After four years in France, he came to America when his family was granted political asylum. Originally a physician, he turned to full time writing upon the publication of his critically acclaimed first novel, The Kite Runner. His next two novels, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed, were also best sellers; all were set in Afghanistan.
His latest work, Sea Prayer, was first created as a virtual reality experience based on the Syrian refugee crisis, and was published as an illustrated novel in 2018. Mr. Hosseini currently lives in California; today he turns 59.
Leslie Marmon Silko – March 5
On this day, March 5, in 1948, writer Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The author of three novels and seven collections of short stories and poetry (as well as six other smaller works), she is considered a key figure in what has come to be known as the Native American Renaissance. Her first novel, Ceremony, was published in 1977 to high critical acclaim, and is based on her native Laguna ancestry.
Winner of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 1981 and awarded the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994 as well as the Robert Kirsch Award in 2020, she currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona; today she turns 76.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning – March 6
On this day, March 6, in 1806, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born Kelloe, Durham, England. An immensely popular writer during her lifetime, she has been hailed as one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era, and her courtship by and subsequent marriage to fellow poet Robert Browning is the stuff of legends.
Admired by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe (he dedicated The Raven and other poems to her) and Emily Dickinson, among others, her intelligence and her morality (she was vocally against slavery, child labor and the persecution of Italian citizenry by foreign rule) secured her place in literary history. Beset by illness throughout her life, she died in 1861 at age 55.
Brent Weeks – March 7
On this day, March 7, in 1977, fantasy writer Brent Weeks was born somewhere in the wilds of Montana. Author of The Night Angel Trilogy (an anomaly in this age of epic trilogies being drawn out over years, the three books in this series were published in October, November and December of 2008), he then penned the five volume The Lightbringer Series – originally meant to be a trilogy, but growing beyond that.
In 2023, he returned to the bestselling world of the Night Angel trilogy with Night Angel Nemesis, book 1 in the Kylar Chronicles. Currently living in Oregon (where he doesn’t own cats or wear a ponytail), today he turns 47.
Eden Butler – March 8
On this day, March 8, contemporary romance author Eden Butler was born. With over an amazing 50 books under her belt, and creator of the Serenity, Thin Love, Shadow, God of Rock and Protocol series (as well as paranormal romance Crimson Cove, wacky I’ve Seen You Naked and Didn’t Laugh: A Geeky Love Story, and lovely time-spanning Infinite Us) Eden is the direct descendant of an honest-to-God English pirate, which could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum.
When she’s not writing, Eden patiently waits for her Hogwarts letter, edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football. Happy Birthday, Eden!
Mickey Spillane – March 9
On this day, March 9, in 1918, crime writer Mickey Spillane was born in Brooklyn, New York. This “king of pulp fiction”, the son of an Irish bartender, started writing in high school (although his first novel wasn’t published until 1947). He held a number of odd jobs such as lifeguard, department store salesman and trampoline artist for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus before writing for the comics in 1940, penning stories for characters such as Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman and Captain America.
But it was his crime fiction that saw him selling over 225 million books, and his signature character, hard nosed Mike Hammer, remains an icon of American detective fiction.
Johanna Lindsey – March 10
On this day, March 10, in 1952, historical romance novelist Johanna Lindsey – known as the Queen of the Bodice Buster – was born in Germany where her father was stationed in the US Army. The family lived a nomadic life until her father died in 1964; her mother settled in Hawaii to honor his dream of retiring there. Lindsey wrote her first book in 1977 “on a whim.” It seems to have been a good move for her, with almost 60 novels to her credit with over 60 million books sold – all of which were on the New York Times bestseller list.
With strong feminist characters who “lived fearlessly, fought passionately, and loved with abandon”, her works helped to establish the romance genre. She died of lung cancer in 2019 at the age of 67.
Other LitStack Resources
Be sure to look at other Author Birthdays, a weekly feature on LitStack from contributing writer Sharon Browning, and be sure and support independent bookstores – buy a book today at LitStack Bookshop, with tons of author birthday titles on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.
You can find and buy the books relating to our author birthdays at the LitStack Bookshop on our list of Sharon’s Birthday Picks.
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