Literati and Libations

September/Part I

Photo by Bon Vivant on Unsplash

A smoke-filled room and a good book by an exceptional author have unlimited potential, and the only thing that tops either is a great cocktail.

That said, why not raise a glass in celebration of literary greats, including:

• 1^st

  Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan; Blaise Cendrars, poet; Rosa Guy, novelist, children's author, playwright, and short story writer; Kirby Wright, poet and novelist; and Nelson George, writer;

• 2^nd

  Eugene Field, poet and journalist; Joseph Roth, journalist and novelist; and Allen Drury, author;

• 3^rd

  Sarah Orne Jewett, novelist; Alison Lurie, novelist; and Malcolm Gladwell, writer;

• 4^th

  Francois-René de Chateaubriand, writer; Paul Osborn, playwright; Mary Challans -aka- Mary Renault, historical novelist; Richard [Nathaniel] Wright, novelist; Syd Hoff, children's author; and Joan Delano Aiken, children's fiction author and poet;

"I’d like to propose a toast to the world. May it continue to spin, and may we continue to get dizzy." - Dorothy Parker

• 5^th

  Frank [Garvin} Yerby, novelist; Ward Just, journalist, and fiction writer; Paul Fleischman, children's author; Robert Fergusson, poet; Henriette Herz, writer and translator; Heimito von Doderer, novelist and screenwriter; Mary Helen Creighton, writer and folklorist; Arthur Koestler, novelist, biographer, memoirist, essayist, and journalist; Topazia Alliata, writer; Astrid Hjertenæs Andersen, poet, journalist, and travel writer; Frank Yerby, poet, and historical novelist; Mária Földes, writer, playwright, and memoirist; Justin Kaplan, biographer; Joy Jobbins, writer, memoirist, screenwriter, and magazine publisher; Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, writer; Lin Wenyue, writer, and translator; Joan Givner, essayist, biographer, and novelist; Jonathan Kozol, nonfiction writer; Muhammad Mansha Yaad, novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and playwright; Rachid Boudjedra, writer, poet, screenwriter, and journalist; Jairo Aníbal Niño, playwright, short-story writer, children’s author, and poet; Werner Herzog, screenwriter, and author; Sam Hamill, U.S. poet who co-founded Copper Canyon Press; Dario Bellezza, poet, author, playwright, and translator; Lily Brett -aka- Lilijahne Brajtsztajn, novelist, essayist, pop music journalist, poet, and nonfiction writer; Jasminka Domaš, writer, and journalist; Lydie Salvayre -aka- Lydie Arjona, writer and playwright; Murasaki Yamada -aka- Mitsuko Shiratori, feminist essayist, writer, and poet; Scarlet Moon de Chevalier, writer and journalist; Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, novelist; Cathy Guisewite, cartoonist and writer who created the comic strip Cathy; Kauraka Kauraka, writer and poet; Anibal João da Silva Melo, writer, journalist, poet, and short-story writer; Anna Fiske, writer, illustrator, children’s writer, comics artist, and cartoonist; Triyanto Triwikromo, author, journalist, poet, and short-story writer; Mariusz Szczygiel, journalist, author, and writer; Kavita Mahajan, novelist, nonfiction author, and translator; Yuriy (Yuras) Uladzimiravich Kur’yanovich, writer, popular science author, biographer, translator, historian, and artist; Deeba Salim Irfan, author, and poet; Albert Tam, writer, young-adult author, and science-fiction author; Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder, author; Jeff Rivera, novelist; Emelie Schepp, crime novelist; Fatih Takmakli, author, poet, and photographer; and Relebogile Mabotja, writer;

• 6^th

  Robert Pirsig, writer;

• 7^th

  George-Louis Leclerc, natural history writer; Elinor Wylie, poet; Dame Edith Sitwell, poet; Taylor Caldwell, novelist; Martin Booth, poet, children's book writer, novelist, and biographer; and Joe Klein, journalist and author;

• 8^th

  Luovico Ariosto, poet; Frédéric Mistral, poet; Marilyn Durham, writer; and Ann Beattie, novelist and short story writer;

“If the ocean was beer and I was a duck, I’d swim to the bottom and drink my way up. But the ocean’s not beer, and I’m not a duck. So raise up your glasses and shut the fuck up.” - United States Marine Corps Cadets

• 9^th

  Leo Tolstoy, writer; [Bhartendu] Harishchandra, poet/dramatist; Mary Hunter Austin, nature writer; Ralph Hodgson, poet; Phyllis A. Whitney, novelist; and Wilsonia Benita Driver -aka- Sonia Sanchez, poet, playwright, children's author, and essayist;

• 10^th

  Georgia Douglas Johnson, poet, and playwright; Hilda Doolittle -aka- HD, poet; Franz Werfe, author; Mary Oliver, poet; Stephan Jay Gould, essayist; and Andreï Makine, writer;

• 11^th

  James Thomson, poet; William Sidney Porter –aka- O. Henry, short story writer; D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, novelist and poet; Leon Rooke, writer and novelist; and James McBride, author;

• 12^th

  H. L. Mencken, newspaperman and critic; Stanislaw Lem, sci-fi writer; Kristin [Eggleston] Hunter, novelist; and Michael Ondaatje, poet and author;

"Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends." - Tom Waits

• 13^th

  Sherwood Anderson, author; Alain [Le Roy] Locke, essayist and anthologist; J[ohn] B[oynton] Priestley, author; Roald Dahl, children’s author; John Malcolm Brinnin, poet and biographer; Else Holmelund Minarik, children’s author; Adrienne Kennedy, playwright; Mildred D. Taylor, author; Jagannath Tarka Panchanan, writer, and linguist; Benedikt Naubert -aka- Christiana Benedicta Hebenstreit, historical novelist; Santo Kyoden -aka- Iwase Samuru and Kyoya Denzo, poet, writer, and essayist; Gino Capponi, writer; Stefan Witwicki, poet, prose writer, and lyricist; Maurycy Mochnacki, literary, theatre, and music critic, publicist, and journalist; Valérie Boissier (comtesse de Gasparin), writer; Alice Bradley Neal -aka- Alice G. Lee, Alice B. Neal, Clara Cushman, Mrs. Joseph C. Neal, and Alice B. Haven, author, poet, and short-story writer; Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, novelist, and playwright; Diane de Guldencrone (née Gobineau), writer and historian; John J. Pershing, autobiographer; Helene Migerka, poet, and novelist; Israel Isidor Elyashe, literary critic; Sherwood Anderson, novelist, short-story writer, poet, and memoirist; Avraham Ben-Yitzhak, poet; Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, novelist; Ellen Dahl, writer; Pierre Reverdy, poet; J.B. Priestly, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter; Amado Vera Hernandez -aka- Amado V. Hernandez, writer, and journalist; Syed Mujtaba Ali, author, journalist, essayist, travel writer, short-story writer, and linguist; Renée Brock, poet and short-story writer; Carol Kendall, children’s author; Mary Beatrice Midgley (née Scrutton), author, and autobiographer; Else Minarik, children’s author; Natália de Oliveira Correia, writer, and poet; Sharif Hatata, novelist; Verna Susannah Coleman (née Scott), writer, biographer, and librarian; Samira Azzam, writer, and translator; Joy Williams -aka- Eileen Williams, Joyce Riley Williams, Joy Williams Wiradjuri, and Janaka Wiradjuri, poet and writer; Mira Widjaja Wong -aka- Mira W., author and screenwriter; Hiromi Ito, novella writer, poet, and essayist; Tom Holt -aka- Thomas Charles Louis Holt and K. J. Parker, novelist; E. Lockhart -aka- Emily Jenkins, writer; and Scofray Nana Yaw Yeboah, author, and columnist;

• 14^th

  [Hannibal] Hamlin Garland, novelist, short-story writer, and poet; Edith Hurd -aka- Posey, children's writer; Ivan Klima, novelist and playwright; Kate Millett, author; Bernard MacLaverty, novelist and scriptwriter; and John [Lewis] Steptoe, children's writer; and

• 15^th

  Robert McCloskey, children's author; François, 6th duc de La Rochefoucauld, writer; James Fenimore Cooper, social critic, historian, and novelist; Robert Benchley, humorist and critic; [Festus Claudius] Claude McKay, poet and novelist; Dame Agatha Christie, mystery writer; Fawn Brodie, biographer; and Tomie DePaola -aka- Thomas Anthony de Paola, writer; Jules Laforgue, poet and short story writer; Hugo Gernsback, sci-fi writer; Georgette Heyer, novelist; Wallace Thurman, writer; William Maxwell, novelist, short story writer and editor; Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, children’s author; Charles Bukowski, poet; and [Alan] Anthony Price, journalist, crime fiction writer and reviewer.

Gesondheid!

Thanks for reading,