Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

24

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Russell Earl Banks

Russell Banks

United States

1940 – 2023 (82 years old)

American novelist, short story writer, and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist whose realist fiction, including Affliction, The Sweet Hereafter, and Cloudsplitter, probed working-class struggles and racial injustice.

Lake Placid, United States

24 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

33

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Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Germany

1929 – 2022 (93 years old)

Towering German poet, essayist, and public intellectual of the post-war Group 47 generation who served as Germany's critical conscience for six decades, founding literary journal Kursbuch and writing The Sinking of the Titanic.

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

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Literature & Poetry

13

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Kaddour M'Hamsadji

قدور محمصاجي

Algeria

1933 – 2022 (89 years old)

Prolific Algerian novelist, playwright, and literary historian whose work documented the birth of national theater, oral poetry, and urban folklore over seven decades.

Algiers, Algeria

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Literature & Poetry

26

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Dame Hilary Mary Mantel

Hilary Mary Thompson

Great Britain

1952 – 2022 (70 years old)

Preeminent British historical novelist who made literary history as the first woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize twice, for her monumental Thomas Cromwell trilogy masterpieces Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

Budleigh Salterton, United Kingdom

26 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

26

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Javier Marías Franco

Javier Marías

Spain

1951 – 2022 (70 years old)

Preeminent contemporary Spanish novelist, translator, and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, celebrated for hypnotic, philosophical masterpieces of secrecy and betrayal including A Heart So White, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, and Your Face Tomorrow.

Madrid, Spain

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Hadrawi

Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame

Somalia

1943-01-01 – 2022-08-18 (79 years old)

Universally acclaimed as the greatest Somali poet of modern times, known as the 'Somali Shakespeare', who endured five years in solitary confinement for his anti-dictatorship allegories.

Hargeisa, Somalia

1 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

20

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Patrick Jake O'Rourke

P. J. O'Rourke

United States

1947 – 2022 (74 years old)

Irreverent, sharp-witted American political satirist, gonzo foreign correspondent, and bestselling author of Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance, famed for skewering government absurdity with libertarian humor.

Sharon, New Hampshire, United States

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Literature & Poetry

23

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Driss El Khouri

إدريس الخوري

Morocco

1939 – 2022 (83 years old)

Pioneering Moroccan short story writer, art critic, and journalist who, alongside Mohamed Zefzaf and Mohamed Choukri, formed the holy trinity of raw Moroccan realism.

Salé, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Noureddine Sammoud

نور الدين صمود

Tunisia

1932 AD – 2022 (90 years old)

Beloved Tunisian lyrical poet and scholar of Arabic poetic meters whose collections, such as The Carrier of the Wind and Journeys in the Fragrance of Words, enriched contemporary Arabic verse.

Kelibia, Tunisia

4 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

21

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Ali Mustafa al-Misrati

علي مصطفى المصراتي

Egypt

August 18, 1926 – December 29, 2021 (95 years old)

Venerable Libyan literary patriarch, historian, and anti-colonial statesman whose over forty books documented the folklore, literary biography, and political history of modern Libya across nearly a century.

Tripoli, Libya

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Literature & Poetry

25

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Joan Didion

Joan Didion

United States

1934 – 2021 (87 years old)

Preeminent American essayist, novelist, and pioneer of New Journalism renowned for her razor-sharp prose dissecting California culture, American politics, and her peerless memoir of grief, The Year of Magical Thinking.

New York City, United States

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Literature & Poetry

26

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Howard Allen Frances O'Brien Rice

Anne Rice

United States

1941 – 2021 (80 years old)

Celebrated American gothic novelist whose evocative bestselling The Vampire Chronicles, beginning with Interview with the Vampire (1976), reimagined the vampire mythos as philosophical, sensual meditations on immortality and grief.

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Marie-Claire Blais

Marie-Claire Blais

Canada

1939 – 2021 (82 years old)

Literary prodigy of Quebec whose dark masterpiece Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel (1965) won France's prestigious Prix Médicis, and who authored the acclaimed Soifs ten-volume novel cycle.

Quebec City, Canada

1 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

47

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Wilbur Addison Smith

Wilbur Smith

🌐 Zambia

1933 – 2021 (88 years old)

Prolific, internationally bestselling Zambian-South African historical adventure novelist who sold over 140 million copies of 49 books, famed for his sweeping Courtney and Ballantyne sagas of African history and Ancient Egyptian series.

Cape Town, South Africa

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Literature & Poetry

16

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Ali Louati

علي اللواتي

Tunisia

1947 – 2021 (74 years old)

Distinguished Tunisian poet, art historian, and lyricist who directed the National Museum of Bardo and composed the poetic librettos for Tunisia's greatest modern musical masterpieces.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Saadi Youssef

سعدي يوسف

Iraq

1934 – 12 June 2021 (87 years old)

Celebrated Iraqi poet of everyday life and exile, translator of Walt Whitman, Lorca, and Cavafy into modern Arabic.

London, United Kingdom

1 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

26

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Eric Carle

Eric Carle

United States

1929 – 2021 (91 years old)

Beloved American children's book author and illustrator celebrated for his distinctive hand-painted paper collage technique and immortal picture books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, translated into 66 languages.

Northampton, United States

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Literature & Poetry

33

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Larry Jeff McMurtry

Larry McMurtry

United States

1936 – 2021 (84 years old)

Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning American novelist and screenwriter who demythologized the American West in masterpieces including Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Brokeback Mountain.

Archer City, Texas, United States

33 Full Record →