FAMOUS WRITERS!

A list of famous writers / authors / poets throughout history.

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) English poet and playwright. Famous plays include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. Shakespeare is widely considered the seminal writer of the English language.

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) Anglo-Irish writer born in Dublin. Swift was a prominent satirist, essayist and author. Notable works include Gulliver’s Travels (1726), A Modest Proposal and A Tale of a Tub.

Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784) British author best known for his compilation of the English dictionary. Although not the first attempt at a dictionary, it was widely considered to be the most comprehensive – setting the standard for later dictionaries.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) German poet, playwright, and author. Notable works of Goethe include: Faust, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Elective Affinities.

Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) English author who wrote romantic fiction combined with social realism. Her novels include: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816).

Honore de Balzac (1799 –  1850) French novelist and short story writer. Balzac was an influential realist writer who created characters of moral ambiguity – often based on his own real life examples. His greatest work was the collection of short stories La Comédie humaine.

Alexandre Dumas (1802 – 1870) French author of historical dramas, including – The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), and The Three Musketeers (1844). Also prolific author of magazine articles, pamphlets and travel books.

Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) French author and poet. Hugo’s novels include Les Misérables, (1862) and Notre-Dame de Paris (1831).

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) – English writer and social critic. His best-known works include novels such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol.

Charlotte Bronte (1816 – 1855) English novelist and poet, from Haworth. Her best known novel is ‘Jane Eyre’ (1847).