Literati and Libations

August/Part I

Photo by Kelly Visel on Unsplash

When it comes to enhancing reading experiences, besides the delightful duo of wine and chocolate, toasting the birth of literary greats can elevate a literary escape.

That said, join me in celebrating:

• 1^st

  Richard Henry Dana, author; Herman Melville, writer; Carter Brown -aka- Allan Geoffrey Yates and Caroline Farr, crime writer; Walter Griffen, poet; Hugh Seidman, poet; Amy Friedman, novelist; and Madison Smartt Bell, novelist and short story writer;

• 2^nd

  Ernest (Christopher) Dowson, erotic poet; Romulo Gallegos, novelist; James Arthur Baldwin, activist and writer; Stephen Sandy, poet; Mitchell Smith, author; Isabel Allende, writer; Beverly Coyle, novelist; and Bei Dao -aka- Zhao Zhengkai, poet;

• 3^rd

  Rupert Brooke, poet; Ernie Pyle, war correspondent; P[hyllis] D[orothy] James, writer; Hayden Carruth, poet, critic and novelist; Leon Uris, novelist; Annette Sanford -aka- Mary Carroll/Meg Dominiuque/Lisa St John, etc., romance novelist; Marvin Bell, poet;’ Diane Wakoski, poet; and Walter Kirn, writer and literary critic;

“I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.”

Miguel de Cervantes

• 4^th

  Percy Byshelle Shelly, poet; William Henry Hudson, novelist; Knut Hamsun, novelist; Robert Hayden, poet; and Assia Djebar, novelist, translator, poet and playwright;

• 5^th

  Conrad Aiken, poet; Guy de Maupassant, short story writer; Per Wahlöö, poet; and Wendell Berry, poet;

• 6^th

  Francois Fenelon, writer; Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet; Paul [Louis Charles Marie] Claudel, poet and essayist; Scott Nearing, author; Norma Farber, children’s author; Janet Asimov, science columnist and children’s writer; and Piers Anthony, writer;

• 7^th

  Georg Stiernhielm, poet; Laurence Eigner, poet and short story writer; Garrison Keillor, humorist; and Ann Beattie, novelist and short story writer;

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

Benjamin Franklin

• 8^th

  Sara Teasdale, poet; Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author; and Elizabeth Ann Tallent, novelist and short story writer;

• 9^th

  Izaak Walton, writer; Philip Larkin, writer; Daniel Keyes, author; Jonathan Kellerman, mystery writer; and Jeanne Larsen, novelist;

• 10^th

  Lawrence Binyon, poet and playwright; Witter Bynner, poet, playwright and translator; and Jorge Amando, writer;

• 11^th

  Charlotte Mary Yonge, writer; Hugh MacDiarmid, poet; Louise Bogan, writer and poet; Enid Blyton, children’s writer; Sir Angus Wilson, writer; Alex [Murray Palmer] Haley, biographer, scriptwriter and novelist; Carl [Thomas] Rowan, journalist; and Andre Dubus, short story writer;

“I’ve never been drunk, but often I’ve been overserved.”

George Gobel

• 12^th

  Robert Southy, poet and biographer; Katharin Lee Bates, author; Jacinto Benavente y Martrinez, dramatist; Edith Hamilton, writer; Mary Roberts Rinehart, mystery writer; Frank Swinnerton, novelist and literary critic; Zerna Sharp, comic strip creator; Wallace Markfield, satirical novelist; William Goldman, novelist and screenwriter; Walter Dean Myers, YA novelist and picture book writer; Gail Parent, writer; and J.D. McClatchy, poet and essayist;

• 13^th

  Nikolaus Lenau, poet; and Sharon Kay Penman, novelist;

• 14^th

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon, poet and novelist; Ernest T. Seton, author; John Galsworthy, novelist and playwright; Russel Baker, editorial writer; William Kittredge, western writer; and Alfred Cohn, poet; and

• 15^th

  Luigi Pluci, poet; Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet; Thomas De Quincey, writer; Edna Farber, writer; T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, writer; Louise Shivers, novelist and librarian; Garry Disher, writer and children’s book author; Mary Jo Salter, poet; and Stig Larrson, crime novelist and journalist.

Salud!

Thanks for reading,