Each month, we highlight relevant author birthdays to celebrate. In the post below, click on the author’s name to find titles by them in our catalog. Read a little bit about each author, then follow the link to learn more about them in one of our online resources!
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Isabel Allende (Aug. 2, 1942): "Isabel Allende's private life has never been without a political dimension. ... Salvador Gossens Allende, Isabel's beloved uncle and godfather, participated in the organization of Chile's Socialist Party in 1933 and was elected to the Chilean legislature in 1937. In 1970 he became the first democratically elected Marxist to preside in Chile and in a Western nation. Shortly after President Allende's assassination in 1973 by right-wing military leaders who, with the help of CIA operatives and the U.S. State Department, violently toppled his socialist reform government, Isabel Allende, active in her opposition to the new dictatorship, was forced to flee Chile with her husband and children for fear of reprisal. In exile in Caracas, Venezuela, Allende began her career as a novelist." From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
James Baldwin (Aug. 2, 1924): "James Baldwin was an African American novelist, playwrite, and social critic famous for writing Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) and many other books. He was also passionate in his pursuit of racial justice and sexual freedom through his writing." Find his full bio in the African American Experience resource HERE.
Kamila Shamsie (Aug. 13, 1973): "A native of Pakistan, Kamila Shamsie wrote her first novel in English, the result of an upbringing and education that is dexterously chronicled in her 1998 debut, In the City by the Sea. Shamsie, like the protagonist Hasan, was born in Karachi, one of Pakistan's largest cities, and actual events from her childhood play an integral role in the turmoil of the young character's life. At the age of eleven, Hasan leads a pleasant life as the well-loved son of educated, liberal parents. His father is an attorney, and his artist mother runs a gallery. Both the father and an uncle, the popular head of a political party, have been educated at elite English universities--a legacy, in part, of Pakistan's former colonial ties to the British Empire--and rose to prominence after Pakistan gained independence in 1947." From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
Valeria Luiselli (Aug. 16, 1983): "Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City in 1983. The daughter of a diplomat, she has lived in various countries around the globe, including Costa Rica, South Korea, South Africa, India, Spain, France, and the United States. In 2008 she moved to New York City, where she now lives with her husband, the writer Álvaro Enrigue. She teaches creative writing at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana and is studying for a Ph.D. in comparative literature at Columbia University. Luiselli, who writes in both Spanish and English, has collaborated as a writer with several art galleries and has worked as a librettist for the New York City Ballet." From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
Benjamin Alire Saenz (Aug. 16, 1954): "An author, educator, and activist, Benjamin Alire Sáenz has penned award-winning poetry, short stories and essays, novels, and children's books, as well as works for young adult readers. In 2010 he was named one of the world's most inspiring writers by Poets & Writers magazine. 'I am just addicted to telling stories,' he said in an interview for the Chicago Public Library. 'It doesn't matter if the story is for adults, or young people or children. It doesn't make any difference to me whether the vehicle for the story is a novel, a poem or a picture book. Or even a painting!'" From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
V.S. Naipaul (Aug. 17, 1932): "Anglo-Trinidadian writer V.S. Naipaul was one of Britain's most formidable literary talents of the late twentieth century. Knighted in 1990 and the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Oxford University graduate produced both acclaimed novels and insightful works of nonfiction in a career that spanned nearly 60 years. 'He saw the horror and terror waiting to be unleashed upon the world by half-baked revolutions, mutinies and holy wars and by fundamentalism and fanaticism of any kind,' asserted the Guardian's Kenneth Ramchand. 'He was considered by many to be the first modern global writer.'" From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
Sharon Draper (Aug. 21, 1948): "As an author, poet, and master educator named 1997 U.S. Teacher of the Year, Sharon Draper has introduced thousands of children and young people to the world of words. Draper said that teaching has been her 'calling and vocation,' describing herself as a teacher who 'teaches because I must. It is in my heart and soul; part of the definition of me. I end up teaching wherever I am.' As a teacher who has also become a writer she has testified to the value of story and the power of words to generations of students. Her published work, including many young adult novels, series of juvenile fiction, and collections of poetry, has been grounded in the conviction that books can and must speak to the lives and dreams of young readers." From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
Dorothy Parker (Aug. 22, 1893): "Known as 'the wittiest woman in America,' Dorothy Parker became a legend during the 1920s as much for her hilarious one-liners at the Algonquin Round Table as for her best-selling poetry, fiction, and reviews. While Parker's vast popularity stemmed from her ability to make people laugh, simmering beneath the surface of her short stories and verse is a suppressed rage at the pervasive inequalities of American society." From the Biography in Context online resource. Find Biography in Context HERE, then log in with your last name and TCCL card number to search this author's name and explore the resources about them.
