June
- 1790 - Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian playwright born
- 1878 - John Masefield, English novelist and poet born
- 1881 - Charles Kay Ogden, English writer born
- 1937 - Colleen McCullough, Australian novelist born
- 1968 - André Laurendeau, French Canadian writer died
- 1740 - Marquis de Sade, French author born
- 1840 - Thomas Hardy, English writer born
- 1857 - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer born
- 1913 - Barbara Pym, English novelist born
- 1935 - Carol Shields, American-born novelist born
- 1635 - Philippe Quinault, French writer born
- 1844 - Detlev von Liliencron, German poet born
- 1864 - Otto Erich Hartleben, German writer born
- 1926 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet born
- 1931 - John Norman, American author born
- 1964 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer died
- 1821 - Apollon Maykov, Russian poet born
- 1875 - Eduard Mörike, German poet died
- 1907 - Jacques Roumain, Haitian writer born
- 1923 - Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer born
- 1932 - Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer born
- 1964 - Samuil Marshak, Russian poet died
- 1640 - Pu Songling, Chinese writer born
- 1919 - Richard Scarry, American children's author born
- 1920 - Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American author born
- 1930 - Alifa Rifaat, Egyptian writer born
- 1932 - Christy Brown, Irish author born
- 1941 - Spalding Gray, American writer born
- 1949 - Ken Follett, Welsh author born
- 1841 - Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish novelist born
- 1862 - Henry John Newbolt, English author born
- 1875 - Thomas Mann, German writer born
- 1923 - V. C. Andrews, American author born
- 1924 - Jinyong, Chinese novelist born
- 1954 - Cynthia Rylant, American author born
- 2000 - Frédéric Dard, French writer died
- 1899 - Elizabeth Bowen, Irish novelist born
- 1916 - Émile Faguet, French writer died
- 1917 - Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet born
- 1935 - Harry Crews, American author born
- 1943 - Nikki Giovanni, American poet born
- 1954 - Louise Erdrich, American author born
- 1967 - Dorothy Parker, American writer died
- 1970 - E. M. Forster, English author died
- 1980 - Henry Miller, American writer died
- 1611 - Jean Bertaut, French poet died
- 1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, French author born
- 1949 - George Orwell's dystopian political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published.
- 1870 - Charles Dickens, English author died
- 1925 - Keith Laumer, science fiction writer born
- 1939 - Charles Webb, author born
- 1943 - Joe Haldeman, science fiction writer born
- 1956 - Patricia Cornwell, American author born
- 1974 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer died
- 1552 - Alexander Barclay, English poet died
- 1580 - Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet died
- 1863 - Louis Couperus, Dutch novelist born
- 1911 - Terence Rattigan, British playwright born
- 1915 - Saul Bellow, American writer born
- 1928 - Maurice Sendak, American writer born
- 1949 - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer died
- 1982 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German author died
- 1991 - Vercors, French writer died
- 1540 - Barnabe Googe, English poet born
- 1572 - Ben Jonson, English dramatist born
- 1588 - George Wither, English writer born
- 1936 - Robert E. Howard, American author died
- 1998 - Catherine Cookson, British novelist died
- 1819 - Charles Kingsley, English writer born
- 1827 - Johanna Spyri, Swiss author born
- 1892 - Djuna Barnes, American author born
- 1906 - Sandro Penna, Italian poet born
- 1929 - Anne Frank, German-born Dutch Jewish diarist born
- 1953 - Tess Gerritsen, American novelist and physician born
- 1752 - Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist born
- 1865 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate born
- 1887 - Bruno Frank, German author born
- 1888 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet born
- 1893 - Dorothy L. Sayers, English author born
- 1479 (O.S.) - Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet born
- 1811 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author born
- 1837 - Giacomo Leopardi, Italian writer died
- 1899 - Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate born
- 1986 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer died
- 1750 - Marguerite De Launay, Baronne Staal, French writer died
- 1888 - Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet born
- 1889 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet died
- 1911 - W.V. Awdry, British children's writer born
- 1914 - Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist born
- 1313 - Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer born
- 1920 - John Howard Griffin, American writer born
- 1927 - Herbert Lichtenfeld, German author and playwright born
- 1937 - Erich Segal, American author born
- 1938 - Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist born
- 1808 - Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian author born
- 1810 - Ferdinand Freiligrath, German writer born
- 1914 - John Hersey, American author born
- 1946 - Peter Rosei, Austrian writer born
- 1957 - Dorothy Richardson, English writer died
- 1812 - Ivan Goncharov, Russian author born
- 1902 - Samuel Butler, English writer died
- 1932 - Geoffrey Hill, English poet born
- 1982 - John Cheever, American author died
- 1507 - Annibale Caro, Italian poet born
- 1978 - Garfield made his debut in a comic strip
- 1993 - William Golding, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate died
- 1999 - Stephen King was hit in a car accident on Route 5 in North Lovell, Maine by Bryan Smith
- 1951 - Paul Muldoon, Northern Irish poet born
- 1999 - Clifton Fadiman, American author died
- 2005 - Larry Collins, American writer died
- 1839 - Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer born
- 1883 - Fyodor Gladkov, Russian writer born
- 1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) born
- 1935 - Françoise Sagan, French writer born
- 431 - Paulinus of Nola, Roman poet died
- 1856 - H. Rider Haggard, English author born
- 1898 - Erich Maria Remarque, German writer born
- 1906 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and pilot born
- 1913 - Ștefan Octavian Iosif, Romanian poet died
- 1668 - Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian born
- 1889 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet born
- 1910 - Jean Anouilh, French dramatist born
- 1944 - Thomas Mann becomes a US citizen
- 2003 - Vasil Bykaŭ, Belarusian writer died
- 1542 - St. John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite friar and poet born
- 1704 - Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer born
- 1842 - Ambrose Bierce, American author born
- 1909 - Sarah Orne Jewett, American writer died
- 1903 - George Orwell (pen name of Eric Arthur Blair), British writer born
- 1923 - Nicholas Mosley, British writer born
- 1926 - Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer born
- 1929 - Eric Carle, American children's author born
- 1963 - Yann Martel, Canadian author born
- 1869 - Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish writer born
- 1892 - Pearl S. Buck, American writer born
- 1918 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet died
- 1919 - Richard Neustadt, American political historian born
- 1939 - Ford Madox Ford, English writer died
- 1884 - Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet born
- 1953 - Alice McDermott, American novelist born
- 1957 - Malcolm Lowry, English novelist died
- 2001 - Tove Jansson, Finnish author died
- 2005 - Shelby Foote, American author and historian of the The Civil War: A Narrative series died
- 1503 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet born
- 1712 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher born
- 1867 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer born
- 1947 - Mark Helprin, American writer born
- 2004 - Anthony Buckeridge, English author died
- 1315 - Ramon Llull, Spanish philosopher died
- 1798 - Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet born
- 1861 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet died
- 1990 - Irving Wallace, American author and screenwriter died
- 1685 - John Gay, English writer born
- 1803 - Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet born
- 1908 - Winston Graham, English writer born
- 2003 - Robert McCloskey, American children's book writer and illustrator died