Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries
Filterable archive covering centuries of intellectual, artistic, and moral contributions to the human story.
Abdelkrim Ghallab
(ุนุจุฏ ุงููุฑูู
ุบูุงุจ)
Pioneering Moroccan Arabic novelist and journalist, longtime editor-in-chief of the nationalist daily Al-Alam, and author of the classic anti-colonial novel Dafanna al-Madi.
Boualem Khalfa
(ุจูุนูุงู
ุฎููุฉ)
Historic director of the progressive newspaper 'Alger Rรฉpublicain', resistance militant who survived brutal colonial torture, and poet who spent his life defending free speech.
Taoufik Baccar
(ุชูููู ุจูุงุฑ)
Pioneering literary critic and professor regarded as the father of modern Tunisian literary criticism, who founded the prestigious 'Uyun' book series that canonized modern Tunisian literature.
Miriam Tlali
(Miriam Tlali)
Courageous author who shattered racial barriers as the first Black South African woman to publish a novel in English ('Muriel at Metropolitan', 1975) and chronicled the 1976 Soweto Uprising.
Buchi Emecheta
(Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta)
Nigerian-born British novelist celebrated for The Joys of Motherhood, Second Class Citizen, and The Bride Price, whose fiction dissected the double burdens of colonial racism and patriarchal traditions.
Emma Tennant
Emma Christina Tennant FRSL was an English novelist and editor of Scottish extraction, known for a post-modern approach to her fiction, often imbued with fantasy or magic. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Hubert Lucot
Hubert Lucot was a French poet and metafiction writer. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Jung Mikyung
Jung Mi-Kyung was a modern South Korean novelist.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai
Partaw-i Shah Nasir al-Din Nasir Hubb-i 'Ali Hunzai, known also as 'Allamah Hunzai,, 'Allamah Sahib, or by his epithets, Baba-yi Burushaski, Lisan al-Qawm and Hakim al-Qalam, was a 20th and 21st century theologian, philosopher, Isma'ili scholar, poet and linguist known for his work on Islamic theology, metaphysics, hermeneutics, poetry and the Burushaski language. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Babette Cole
Babette Cole was an English children's writer and illustrator.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Eldar Kuliev
Eldar Kaisynovich Kuliev was a Russian Soviet film director and screenwriter. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Claude Lebey
Claude Lebey was a French food critic and the author of Guide Lebey.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Warren Allen Smith
Warren Allen Smith was an American writer, humanist and gay rights activist. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Edward Margolies
Edward Margolies was an American literary critic and biographer.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving Hentoff was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Refik Erduran
Ahmet Refik Erduran was a Turkish playwright, columnist and writer. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Ricardo Piglia
Ricardo Piglia was an Argentine author, critic, and scholar best known for introducing hard-boiled fiction to the Argentine public.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.
Paul Goble
Paul Goble was a British-American writer and illustrator of children's books, especially Native American stories. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.