November
- 1296 - Guillaume Durand, French writer died
- 1530 - Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and writer born
- 1588 - Jean Daurat, French poet died
- 1607 - Georg Philipp Harsdorffer, German poet born
- 1636 - Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic born
- 1643 - John Strype, English historian and biographer born
- 1704 - Paul Daniel Longolius, German encyclopedist born
- 1790 - Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in a disaster.
- 1871 - Stephen Crane, American writer born
- 1880 - Sholom Asch, Polish-born American writer born
- 1880 - Grantland Rice, American sports writer born
- 1886 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author born
- 1903 - Theodor Mommsen, German writer died
- 1907 - Alfred Jarry, French writer died
- 1955 - Dale Carnegie, American writer died
- 1972 - Ezra Pound, American poet died
- 2006 - William Styron, American author died
- 1549 - Philippe de Mornay, French writer born
- 1613 - Isaac de Benserade, French poet born
- 1715 - John Brown, English writer born
- 1836 - Karel Hynek Mácha, Czech poet died
- 1857 - Ida M. Tarbell, American author and journalist born
- 1895 - Charles MacArthur, American author born
- 1930 - Sinclair Lewis is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1953 - Joyce Maynard, American writer born
- 1975 - Lionel Trilling, American critic and writer died
- 1977 - René Goscinny, French comic book writer died
- 1997 - James Robert Baker, American novelist, screenwriter died
- 2005 - John Fowles, English writer died
- 1692 - Louis Racine, French poet born
- 1692 - Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux, French writer died
- 1833 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author born
- 1846 - Alexander Chavchavadze, Georgian poet and general died
- 1880 - Robert Musil, Austrian novelist born
- 1910 - Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Italian patriot and writer died
- 1921 - James Jones, American writer born
- 1952 - Michael Cunningham, American writer born
- 1984 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist died
- 2000 - L. Sprague de Camp, American writer died
- 2001 - Anthony Shaffer, English dramatist died
- 1491 - Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet born
- 1674 - John Milton, English poet died
- 1710 - Sarah Fielding, English writer born
- 1847 - Bram Stoker, Irish novelist born
- 1869 - Zinaida Gippius, Russian poet born
- 1900 - Margaret Mitchell, American author born
- 1904 - Cedric Belfrage, English writer born
- 1908 - Martha Gellhorn, American writer and journalist born
- 1919 - P. L. Deshpande, Indian author born
- 1953 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer died
- 1953 - John van Melle, South African author died
- 1954 - Kazuo Ishiguro, British author of Japanese origin is born
- 2005 - David Westheimer, American novelist died
- 1664 - Henry Wharton, English writer born
- 1832 - Émile Gaboriau, French writer, novelist and journalist born
- 1877 - Muhammad Iqbal, Indian National poet of Pakistan born
- 1905 - Erika Mann, German writer born
- 1911 - Tabish Dehlvi, Pakistani poet born
- 1911 - Howard Pyle, American author died
- 1918 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet died
- 1928 - Anne Sexton, American poet born
- 1929 - Imre Kertész, Hungarian writer born
- 1934 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer born
- 1937 - Roger McGough, English poet born
- 1953 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author died
- 2004 - Iris Chang, American author died
- 1617 - Barnabe Rich, English soldier and writer died
- 1644 - Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer died
- 1728 - Oliver Goldsmith, English playwright born
- 1759 - Friedrich von Schiller, German writer born
- 1772 - Pedro Correia Garção, Portuguese poet died
- 1871 - Winston Churchill, American novelist born
- 1879 - Vachel Lindsay, American poet born
- 1887 - Arnold Zweig, German author born
- 1893 - John P. Marquand, American writer born
- 1891 - Arthur Rimbaud, French poet died
- 1909 - Renee Vivien, American poet died
- 1960 - Neil Gaiman, English writer born
- 1995 - Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer died
- 2001 - Ken Kesey, American author died
- 1493 - Bernardo Tasso, Italian poet born
- 1623 - Philippe de Mornay, French writer died
- 1834 - Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling was first published.
- 1764 - Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener, Russian writer born
- 1821 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist born
- 1836 - Thomas Bailey Aldrich, American poet and novelist born
- 1901 - F. Van Wyck Mason, American author born
- 1914 - Howard Fast, American author born
- 1919 - Kalle Päätalo, Finnish novelist born
- 1922 - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., American novelist born
- 1928 - Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer born
- 1929 - Hans Magnus Enzensberger, German writer born
- 1950 - Mircea Dinescu, Romanian poet born
- 1954 - Mary Gaitskill, American author born
- 1970 - Lee Battersby, Australian author born
- 1999 - Jacobo Timmerman, Argentine writer and journalist died
- 1773 - John Hawkesworth, English writer died
- 1839 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet born
- 1880 - Alexander Blok, Russian poet born
- 1889 - George S. Kaufman, American playwright born
- 1892 - Guo Moruo, Chinese writer born
- 1906 - Henri Charrière, author of Papillon born
- 1922 - José Saramago, Portuguese writer born
- 1930 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author born
- 1946 - Terrence McKenna, American writer born
- 1952 - Robin McKinley, American writer born
- 1954 - Andrea Barrett, American writer born
- 1967 - Craig Arnold, American poet born
- 1973 - Alan Watts, English writer died
- 1976 - Danny Wallace, British author born
- 1995 - Jack Finney, American author died
- 1865 - Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press.
- 1874 - Clarence Day, American author born
- 1889 - William Allingham, Irish author died
- 1906 - Klaus Mann, German writer born
- 1922 - Marcel Proust, French novelist died
- 1926 - George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."
- 1939 - Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer (Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale) born
- 1941 - Émile Nelligan, Quebec poet died
- 1946 - Alan Dean Foster, American author born
- 1952 - Paul Eluard, French poet died
- 1957 - Seán Mac Falls, Irish-born poet born
- 1966 - Jorge Camacho, Spanish poet born
- 1985 - Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip by Bill Watterson, is first published.
- 1999 - Paul Bowles, American novelist died
- 1722 - Hryhori Skovoroda, Ukrainian poet born
- 1819 - George Eliot, British novelist born
- 1869 - André Gide, French writer born
- 1877 - Endre Ady, Hungarian poet born
- 1884 - Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Pakistani biographer born
- 1916 - Jack London, American writer died
- 1932 - William Walker Atkinson, American author died
- 1936 - James Burke, British writer born
- 1947 - Valerie Wilson Wesley, American author born
- 1962 - Victor Pelevin, Russian writer born
- 1963 - Aldous Huxley, British author died
- 1963 - C. S. Lewis, Irish author died
- 1970 - Stel Pavlou, British novelist born
- 1986 - William Bradford Huie, American writer died
- 1993 - Anthony Burgess, British author died
- 1616 - Richard Hakluyt, English writer died
- 1644 - Areopagitica by John Milton is published.
- 1804 - Richard Graves, British writer died
- 1897 - Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian writer born
- 1908 - Nelson S. Bond, American science fiction writer born
- 1909 - Nigel Tranter, British historian and writer born
- 1920 - Paul Celan, Romanian-born German poet born
- 1923 - Urmuz, Romanian writer died
- 1931 - Dervla Murphy, Irish traveller and author born
- 1936 - Robert Barnard, British mystery writer born
- 1965 - Jennifer Michael Hecht, American poet born
- 1974 - Cornelius Ryan, Irish-born author died
- 1976 - André Malraux, French author died
- 1990 - Roald Dahl, British author died
- 1394 - Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet born
- 1583 - Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet born
- 1632 - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher born
- 1713 - Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist born
- 1801 - Ludwig Bechstein, German poet born
- 1826 - Carlo Collodi, Italian author born
- 1849 - Frances Hodgson Burnett, British-born author born
- 1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
- 1870 - Comte de Lautréamont, French writer died
- 1888 - Dale Carnegie, American writer born
- 1925 - William F. Buckley Jr., American writer born
- 1927 - Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer born
- 1973 - John Neihardt, American writer died
- 1996 - Sorley MacLean, British poet died
- 2004 - Arthur Hailey, British-born author died
- 1562 – Lope de Vega, Spanish playwright born
- 1778 – Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer born
- 1785 – Richard Glover, British poet died
- 1845 – José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, Portuguese novelist born
- 1858 – Alfred Capus, French author born
- 1895 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer born
- 1904 – Ba Jin, Chinese novelist born
- 1913 – Lewis Thomas, American physician and essayist born
- 1926 – Poul Anderson, American writer born
- 1947 – Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet died
- 1950 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish writer died
- 1968 – Upton Sinclair, American journalist, politician, and writer died
- 1970 – Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer died
- 8 BC - Horace, Roman poet and satirist died
- 1895 - Alexandre Dumas, fils, French author died
- 1898 - Fredric Warburg, publisher and author born
- 1907 - L. Sprague de Camp, American writer born
- 1909 - James Agee, American writer born
- 1933 - Jacques Godbout, French Canadian novelist born
- 1937 - Gail Sheehy, American writer born
- 1943 - Nicole Brossard, French Canadian poet born
- 1953 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer died
- 1975 - Ross McWhirter, British co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records died
- 1694 - Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet died
- 1757 - William Blake, British poet born
- 1793 - Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, Swedish romantic poet born
- 1821 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet born
- 1832 - Leslie Stephen, English author born
- 1859 - Washington Irving, American writer died
- 1864 - James Allen, English writer born
- 1881 - Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer born
- 1896 - Dawn Powell, American writer born
- 1904 - Nancy Mitford, British essayist and satirist born
- 1907 - Alberto Moravia, Italian writer born
- 1911 – Václav Renč, Czech poet born
- 1960 - Richard Wright, American author died
- 1965 - Erwin Mortier, Belgian author born
- 1968 - Enid Blyton, British children's author died
- 1973 - Marthe Bibesco, Romanian writer died
- 2001 - William Kienzle, American author died
- 2003 - Antonia Forest, British children's author died
- 1554 - Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer is born
- 1667 - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist born
- 1813 - Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet born
- 1817 - Theodor Mommsen, German author born
- 1835 - Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), American writer born
- 1874 - Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author born
- 1900 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer died
- 1907 - Jacques Barzun, French-born historian and author born
- 1935 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet died
- 1943 - Etty Hillesum, Dutch diarist died
- 1947 - David Mamet, American playwright born
- 1957 - Joël Champetier, French Canadian author born
- 1967 - Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet died
- 1987 - Simon Carmiggelt, Dutch journalist and writer died
- 1997 - Kathy Acker, American author died
- 2004 - Pierre Berton, Canadian author died