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Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an author whose work you’ve not yet read.
In This Week’s Author Shoutouts
William S. Burroughs
An Author Shoutout to William S. Burroughs, born in St. Louis, Missouri, who deserves recognition as an exceptional author. Hailing from a prosperous manufacturing family, he received an education at Harvard and even pursued medical studies in Vienna. However, upon being denied entry into the military, he decided to abandon his academic pursuits. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of his exploration into drug use, a theme that would heavily influence his notable literary works such as Junkie and Naked Lunch.
He formed a friendship with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in 1943, and together they emerged as the leading figures of the Beat Generation, a countercultural movement that embraced non-conformity, hedonism, and spontaneous creativity. He passed away at the age of 83 in 1997 due to heart failure.
Michael Pollan
An Author Shoutout to Michael Pollan, a renowned author and food activist, who hails from Long Island, New York. His impressive portfolio includes ten books that explore the convergence of nature and culture in various aspects of our lives, such as our food choices, farming practices, and even our built surroundings. One of his notable works is the 1998 publication titled In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, where he succinctly provides guidance on maintaining a healthy diet with a simple phrase: Consume real food. Moderately. Primarily plant-based.
The New York Times and the Washington Post recognized his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as one of the top five non-fiction books in 2006. Additionally, The James Beard Foundation, known as the culinary Oscars, honored the book with the award for best food writing.
Charles Dickens
An Author Shoutout to Charles Dickens, born in Landport, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, who deserves a special mention as an esteemed author. In summary, his notable literary creations, including The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations, go beyond captivating narratives and unforgettable characters. They also serve as a profound critique of poverty and social hierarchy during the Victorian era in England.
His narratives blossomed from personal encounters (at the age of 12, his parents and youngest siblings were imprisoned in debtor’s penitentiary while he was entrusted to a slightly more affluent family acquaintance), disrupting prevalent notions of social hierarchy and morality. In 1870, he passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 58.
Jules Verne
Jules Verne, born in Nantes, France, deserves an Author Shoutout. His imaginative works like Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea have not only influenced many others but possibly even birthed a genre. Interestingly, Verne, originally a lawyer, made the bold decision to quit his profession and pursue a career in writing. As a result, he holds the impressive title of being the second most translated author after Shakespeare.
He was an incredibly productive writer, having written more than 50 novels in total. Critiques and scientists praised his work, but in his home country of France, he is regarded as a more serious and avant-garde writer compared to the perception here in the United States. He passed away in 1905 at the age of 77, potentially due to complications arising from diabetes.
Alice Walker
An Author Shoutout to Alice Walker, who hails from Putnam County, Georgia. Despite facing the challenges of poverty, bigotry, and racism, she triumphed over them to establish herself as a renowned author. Notably, her literary achievements include winning the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her book, The Color Purple. When she was 8 years old, an unfortunate incident resulted in the loss of vision in her right eye, which caused her to experience significant shyness for an extended period. Surprisingly, she later reflected on this injury as a valuable lesson that allowed her to truly perceive both people and things.
Throughout her life, she remains an advocate and unwavering champion of human rights, continuing to actively blog and speak out on various social matters.
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak, born in Moscow, Russia, deserves an Author Shoutout. Within his home country, he gained recognition for his translations of plays by renowned writers like Goethe and Shakespeare, as well as for his poetry. Beyond Russia, his most notable accomplishment was the novel Doctor Zhivago, which depicts the journey of a Russian poet and doctor.
Doctor Zhivago, which focused on individual characters rather than societal progress, was denied publication by the government for its refusal to adhere to socialist realism. The novel, however, managed to win the Nobel Prize in 1958 after being smuggled into Milan for publication, resulting in anger and humiliation from the Soviet Communist regime. Boris Pasternak, the author, passed away from lung cancer at the age of 70 in 1960.
Lydia Maria Child
An Author Shoutout to Lydia Maria Child, born in Medford, Massachusetts, who deserves recognition as an esteemed author. While she is primarily known for her famous poem Over the River and Through the Woods, she was a remarkable figure. In addition to being a novelist and journalist, she actively fought against slavery and advocated for the rights of Native Americans and women. Her stories bravely confronted the prevailing problems of male superiority and white supremacy, making a profound impact during that era.
In 1826, she launched the Juvenile Miscellany, which became the inaugural monthly periodical in the United States specifically aimed at children. Ms. Child passed away in 1880 at the age of 78.
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.
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