Nonfiction Authors A-K, IBN-KEY
Meet the essayists, biographers, historians, journalists, and other nonfiction writers whose work has informed readers, challenged assumptions, and brought the real world vividly to the page.
Nonfiction Authors A-K Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Ibn Isḥāq
Ibn Isḥāq was an Arab biographer of the Prophet Muḥammad whose book, in a recension by Ibn Hishām, is one of the......
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr was a Spanish Muslim known for a book recounting his pilgrimage to Mecca. The son of a civil servant,......
Ibn Khallikān
Ibn Khallikān was a Muslim judge and author of a classic Arabic biographical dictionary. He studied in Irbīl, Aleppo,......
Ibn Ḥazm
Ibn Ḥazm was a Muslim litterateur, historian, jurist, and theologian of Islamic Spain, famed for his literary productivity,......
Idrīs, Yūsuf
Yūsuf Idrīs was an Egyptian playwright and novelist who broke with traditional Arabic literature by mixing colloquial......
Iffland, August Wilhelm
August Wilhelm Iffland was a German actor, dramatist, and manager, a major influence on German theatre. Destined......
Ignatieff, Michael
Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian author, literary critic, and politician who represented the Etobicoke-Lakeshore......
Ignatow, David
David Ignatow was an American poet whose works address social as well as personal issues in meditative, vernacular......
Ihimaera, Witi
Witi Ihimaera is a Māori author whose novels and short stories explore the clash between Māori and Pākehā (white,......
Inoue Yasushi
Inoue Yasushi was a Japanese novelist noted for his historical fiction, notably Tempyō no iraka (1957; The Roof......
Ireland, John
John Ireland was a Scottish writer, theologian, and diplomatist, whose treatise The Meroure of Wyssdome is the......
Irving, Washington
Washington Irving was described as the “first American man of letters.” He wrote numerous works but is best known......
Irzykowski, Karol
Karol Irzykowski was a Polish novelist and literary critic well known for his rejection of Realism, which he considered......
Isaac ben Moses Of Vienna
Isaac ben Moses Of Vienna was a medieval codifier of Jewish law (Halakha) whose vast compilation, Or Zaruʿa (“Light......
Isherwood, Christopher
Christopher Isherwood was a British-American novelist and playwright best known for his novels about Berlin in......
Ishihara Shintarō
Ishihara Shintarō was a Japanese writer and politician, who served as governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Ishihara......
Ishikawa Takuboku
Ishikawa Takuboku was a Japanese poet, a master of tanka, a traditional Japanese verse form. His works enjoyed......
Islam, Kazi Nazrul
Kazi Nazrul Islam was an influential and prolific Bengali poet and anti-imperial activist. He was known as Bidrohi......
Ivanov, Vsevolod
Vsevolod Ivanov was a Soviet prose writer noted for his vivid naturalistic realism, one of the most original writers......
Ives, Charles
Charles Ives was a significant American composer who is known for a number of innovations that anticipated most......
Jacinto, António
António Jacinto was a white Angolan poet, short-story writer, and cabinet minister in his country’s first postwar......
Jackson, Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt Jackson was an American poet, novelist, and advocate for Indigenous rights. She was the daughter of......
Jackson, Shirley
Shirley Jackson was an American novelist and short-story writer best known for her story “The Lottery” (1948).......
Jacobus De Voragine
Jacobus De Voragine was the archbishop of Genoa, a chronicler, and the author of the Golden Legend. Jacobus became......
Jacq, Christian
Christian Jacq is a French Egyptologist and writer known as the author of popular novels set in ancient Egypt.......
James, Henry
Henry James was an American novelist and, as a naturalized English citizen from 1915, a great figure in the transatlantic......
James, P.D.
P.D. James was a British mystery novelist best known for her fictional detective Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard.......
Jarnés, Benjamín
Benjamín Jarnés was a Spanish novelist and biographer. In 1910 Jarnés joined the army and began studies at the......
Jastrun, Mieczysław
Mieczysław Jastrun was a Polish lyric poet and essayist whose work represents a constant quest for new poetic forms......
Jay, Ricky
Ricky Jay was an American magician, actor, author, and historian, widely regarded as the most gifted sleight-of-hand......
Jean Le Bel
Jean Le Bel was the forerunner of the great medieval Flemish chroniclers and one of the first to abandon Latin......
Jean Paul
Jean Paul was a German novelist and humorist whose works were immensely popular in the first 20 years of the 19th......
Jefferies, Richard
Richard Jefferies was an English naturalist, novelist, and essayist whose best work combines fictional invention......
Jemison, Mary
Mary Jemison was a captive of Native American Indians, whose published life story became one of the most popular......
Jensen, Johannes V.
Johannes V. Jensen was a Danish novelist, poet, essayist, and writer of many myths, whose attempt, in his later......
Jerome, Jerome K.
Jerome K. Jerome was an English novelist and playwright whose humour—warm, unsatirical, and unintellectual—won......
Jewel, John
John Jewel was an Anglican bishop of Salisbury and controversialist who defended Queen Elizabeth I’s religious......
Jin, Ha
Ha Jin is a Chinese American writer who uses plain, unadorned English prose to explore the tension between the......
Joaquin, Nick
Nick Joaquin was a Filipino novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, and biographer whose works present the diverse......
Johannes von Tepl
Johannes von Tepl was a Bohemian author of the remarkable dialogue Der Ackermann aus Böhmen (c. 1400; Death and......
John of Damascus, St
St. John of Damascus ; Eastern and Western feast day December 4) was an Eastern Christian monk and theologian whose......
John Of Fordun
John Of Fordun was the first chronicler to attempt a continuous history of Scotland. His work is nationalistic......
John VI Cantacuzenus
John VI Cantacuzenus was a statesman, Byzantine emperor, and historian whose dispute with John V Palaeologus over......
Johnson, Colin
Colin Johnson was an Australian novelist and poet who depicted the struggles of modern Aboriginals to adapt to......
Johnson, Diane
Diane Johnson is an American writer and academic who first garnered attention for worldly and satiric novels set......
Johnson, James Weldon
James Weldon Johnson was a poet, diplomat, and anthologist of black culture. Trained in music and other subjects......
Johnson, Osa
Osa Johnson was an American explorer, filmmaker, and writer who, with her husband, made a highly popular series......
Johnson, Pamela Hansford
Pamela Hansford Johnson was an English novelist who treated moral concerns with a light but sure touch. In her......
Johnson, Richard
Richard Johnson was an English author of popular romances, notably The Most Famous History of the Seaven Champions......
Johnson, Samuel
Samuel Johnson was an English critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, regarded as one of the greatest......
Johnson, Uwe
Uwe Johnson was a German author noted for his experimental style. Many of his novels explore the contradictions......
Joinville, Jean, sire de
Jean, sire de Joinville was the author of the famous Histoire de Saint-Louis, a chronicle in French prose, providing......
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer widely known for his bestselling non-fiction books Into the......
Jones, Ernest
Ernest Jones was a psychoanalyst and a key figure in the advancement of his profession in Britain. One of Sigmund......
Jordan, June
June Jordan was an African American author who investigated both social and personal concerns through poetry, essays,......
Jorgensen, Christine
Christine Jorgensen was an American who garnered international headlines in the early 1950s as the first person......
Josephson, Matthew
Matthew Josephson was a U.S. biographer whose clear writing was based on sound and thorough scholarship. As an......
Joshua the Stylite
Joshua the Stylite was a monk of the convent of Zuknin and the reputed author of a chronicle covering mainly the......
Joubert, Joseph
Joseph Joubert was a French man of letters who wrote on philosophical, moral, and literary topics. Joubert went......
Jouve, Pierre-Jean
Pierre-Jean Jouve was a French poet, novelist, and critic. Early in his career, Jouve was influenced by the Abbaye......
Joyce, James
James Joyce was an Irish novelist noted for his experimental use of language and exploration of new literary methods—in......
Juan Manuel, Don
Don Juan Manuel was a nobleman and man of letters who has been called the most important prose writer of 14th-century......
Judah ben Samuel
Judah ben Samuel was a Jewish mystic and semilegendary pietist, a founder of the fervent, ultrapious movement of......
Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich
Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling was a German writer best known for his autobiography, Heinrich Stillings Leben, 5......
Junius
Junius, the pseudonym of the still unidentified author of a series of letters contributed to Henry Sampson Woodfall’s......
Junot, Laure, duchess d’Abrantès
Laure Junot, duchess d’Abrantès was a French author of a volume of famous memoirs. After her father died in 1795,......
Justice, Donald
Donald Justice was an American poet and editor best known for finely crafted verse that frequently illuminates......
Jørgensen, Johannes
Johannes Jørgensen was a writer known in Denmark mainly for his poetry (Digte 1894–98, 1898, and Udvalte Digte,......
Jāḥiẓ, al-
al-Jāḥiẓ was an Islamic theologian, intellectual, and litterateur known for his individual and masterful Arabic......
Kafka, Franz
Franz Kafka was a German-language writer of visionary fiction whose works—especially the novel Der Prozess (1925;......
Kahana-Carmon, Amalia
Amalia Kahana-Carmon was an Israeli author of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays whose modern style influenced......
Kahnweiler, Daniel-Henry
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler was a German-born French art dealer and publisher who is best known for his early espousal......
Kaibara Ekken
Kaibara Ekken was a neo-Confucian philosopher, travel writer, and pioneer botanist of the early Tokugawa period......
Kamkwamba, William
William Kamkwamba is a Malawian inventor and author who worked on projects to improve the lives of his family and......
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou
Cheikh Hamidou Kane was a Senegalese writer best known for his autobiographical novel L’Aventure ambiguë (1961;......
Kanin, Garson
Garson Kanin was an American writer and director who was perhaps best known for several classic comedies written......
Kantemir, Antiokh Dmitriyevich
Antiokh Dmitriyevich Kantemir was a distinguished Russian statesman who was his country’s first secular poet and......
Kaplan, Justin
Justin Kaplan was an American writer, biographer, and book editor who was best known for his acclaimed literary......
Karenga, Maulana
Maulana Karenga is an American activist, scholar, and author. He is best known as the creator of Kwanzaa, the seven-day......
Karpiński, Franciszek
Franciszek Karpiński was a Polish Enlightenment lyric poet who is best known for his religious and patriotic verses.......
Kaschnitz, Marie Luise
Marie Luise Kaschnitz was a German poet and novelist noted for the hopeful and compassionate viewpoint in her numerous......
Katanyan, Vasily
Vasily Katanyan was a Soviet literary historian who was best known as an authority on the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.......
Katayev, Valentin
Valentin Katayev was a Soviet novelist and playwright whose lighthearted, satirical treatment of postrevolutionary......
Kavanagh, Patrick
Patrick Kavanagh was a poet whose long poem The Great Hunger put him in the front rank of modern Irish poets. Kavanagh......
Kawabata Yasunari
Kawabata Yasunari was a Japanese novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. His melancholic lyricism......
Kawahigashi Hekigotō
Kawahigashi Hekigotō was a Japanese poet who was a pioneer of modern haiku. Kawahigashi and his friend Takahama......
Kawakami Hajime
Kawakami Hajime was a journalist, poet, and university professor who was one of Japan’s first Marxist theoreticians.......
Kaye-Smith, Sheila
Sheila Kaye-Smith was a British novelist, best known for her many novels depicting life in her native rural Sussex.......
Kazantzákis, Níkos
Níkos Kazantzákis was a Greek writer whose prolific output and wide variety of work represent a major contribution......
Keller, Gottfried
Gottfried Keller was the greatest German-Swiss narrative writer of late 19th-century Poetischer Realismus (“Poetic......
Kemal, Yaşar
Yaşar Kemal was a Turkish novelist of Kurdish descent best known for his stories of village life and for his outspoken......
Kemalpaşazâde
Kemalpaşazâde was a historian, poet, and scholar who is considered one of the greatest Ottoman historians. Born......
Kemble, Fanny
Fanny Kemble was a popular English actress who is also remembered as the author of plays, poems, and reminiscences,......
Kendi, Ibram X.
Ibram X. Kendi is an American author, historian, and activist who studies and writes about racism and anti-racism......
Kennedy, William
William Kennedy is an American author and journalist whose novels feature elements of local history, journalism,......
Kerouac, Jack
Jack Kerouac was an American novelist, poet, and leader of the Beat movement whose most famous book, On the Road......
Kerr, Jean
Jean Kerr was an American writer, remembered for her plays and for her humorous prose on domestic themes. Jean......
Kertész, Imre
Imre Kertész was a Hungarian author best known for his semiautobiographical accounts of the Holocaust. In 2002......
Kesey, Ken
Ken Kesey was an American writer who was a prominent figure of the countercultural revolution and the hippie movement......
Key, Ellen
Ellen Key was a Swedish feminist and writer whose advanced ideas on sex, love and marriage, and moral conduct had......