Nonfiction Authors A-K, COO-DOS
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
Coover, Robert
Robert Coover was an American writer of avant-garde fiction, plays, poetry, and essays whose experimental forms......
Coppard, A.E.
A.E. Coppard was a writer who achieved fame with his short stories depicting the English rural scene and its characters.......
Corman, Roger
Roger Corman was an American motion picture director, producer, and distributor known for his highly successful......
Corn, Alfred
Alfred Corn is an American poet known for meditative lyrics that show a mastery of traditional forms. Corn was......
Cornwell, Patricia
Patricia Cornwell is an American crime writer best known for her best-selling series featuring the medical examiner......
Cotton, Charles
Charles Cotton was an English poet and country squire, chiefly remembered for his share in Izaak Walton’s The Compleat......
Cotton, John
John Cotton was an influential New England Puritan leader who served principally as “teacher” of the First Church......
Court de Gébelin, Antoine
Antoine Court de Gébelin was a French scholar, philologist, and prose writer, who is remembered for an unfinished......
Courtneidge, Dame Cicely
Dame Cicely Courtneidge was a British actress who played musical comedy and revue, both in a celebrated partnership......
Cousins, Norman
Norman Cousins was an American essayist and editor, long associated with the Saturday Review. Cousins attended......
Cowley, Abraham
Abraham Cowley was a poet and essayist who wrote poetry of a fanciful, decorous nature. He also adapted the Pindaric......
Cowper, William
William Cowper was one of the most widely read English poets of his day, whose most characteristic work, as in......
Cozzens, James Gould
James Gould Cozzens was an American novelist, whose writings dealt with life in middle-class America. Cozzens grew......
Crawfurd, John
John Crawfurd was a Scottish Orientalist and East India Company employee who successfully combined scholarship......
Creevey, Thomas
Thomas Creevey was an English politician and placeman, best remembered as the author of The Creevey Papers, published......
Crews, Frederick
Frederick Crews was an American literary critic who wrote extensively regarding psychoanalytic principles and was......
Crichton, Michael
Michael Crichton was an American writer known for his thoroughly researched popular thrillers, which often deal......
Crosby, Harry
Harry Crosby was an American poet who, as an expatriate in Paris in the 1920s, established the Black Sun Press.......
Crothers, Rachel
Rachel Crothers was an American playwright whose works, which were highly successful commercially, reflected the......
Crouch, Stanley
Stanley Crouch was an American journalist and critic noted for his range of interests and for his outspoken essays......
Crowley, Robert
Robert Crowley was an English Puritan, social reformer, and Christian Socialist prominent in the vestiarian disputes......
Crèvecoeur, Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de
Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de Crèvecoeur was a French American author whose work provided a broad picture of life......
Csoóri, Sándor
Sándor Csoóri was a Hungarian poet, essayist, and screenwriter who became known as one of the finest poets of his......
Cueva, Juan de la
Juan de la Cueva was a Spanish dramatist and poet, one of the earliest Spanish writers to depart from classical......
Cuffe, Paul
Paul Cuffe was an American shipowner, merchant, and Pan-Africanist who was an influential figure in the 19th-century......
Cumberland, Richard
Richard Cumberland was an English dramatist whose plays were in tune with the sentimental spirit that became an......
Cummings, Bruce Frederick
Bruce Frederick Cummings was an English author who wrote The Journal of a Disappointed Man (1919), extracts from......
Cummings, Robert
Robert Cummings was an American actor who starred in motion pictures and television. Cummings studied at the Carnegie......
Cunha, Euclides da
Euclides da Cunha was a Brazilian author of the classic historical narrative Os sertões (1902; Rebellion in the......
Cunningham, Allan
Allan Cunningham was a Scottish poet, a member of the brilliant circle of writers that included Thomas De Quincey,......
Cunningham, J.V.
J.V. Cunningham was an American poet and antimodernist literary critic whose terse, epigrammatic verse is full......
Curie, Ève
Ève Curie was a French and American concert pianist, journalist, and diplomat, a daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie......
Curtis, George William
George William Curtis was a U.S. author, editor, and leader in civil service reform. Early in life Curtis spent......
Curtis, Lionel George
Lionel George Curtis was a British public administrator and author, advocate of British imperial federalism and......
Cusk, Rachel
Author Rachel Cusk began her career writing traditional novels that won high praise and awards. Then she published......
Dadié, Bernard Binlin
Bernard Binlin Dadié was an Ivoirian poet, dramatist, novelist, and administrator whose works were inspired both......
Damascius
Damascius was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and last in the succession of Platonic scholars at the Greek Academy......
Daniel Of Kiev
Daniel Of Kiev was the earliest known Russian travel writer, whose account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land is......
Daniel, Samuel
Samuel Daniel was an English contemplative poet, marked in both verse and prose by his philosophic sense of history.......
Danticat, Edwidge
Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American author whose works focus on the lives of women and their relationships.......
Dares Phrygius
Dares Phrygius, Trojan priest of Hephaestus who appears as one of the characters in Homer’s Iliad, Book V, and......
Darling, Flora Adams
Flora Adams Darling was an American writer, historian, and organizer, an influential though controversial figure......
Darwish, Mahmoud
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who gave voice to the struggles of the Palestinian people. His......
Das, Kamala
Kamala Das was an Indian author who wrote openly and frankly about female sexual desire and the experience of being......
Daudet, Alphonse
Alphonse Daudet was a French short-story writer and novelist, now remembered chiefly as the author of sentimental......
Daudet, Léon
Léon Daudet was a French journalist and novelist, the most virulent and bitterly satirical polemicist of his generation......
Davidson, Donald
Donald Davidson was an American poet, essayist, and teacher who warned against technology and idealized the agrarian,......
Davidson, Thomas
Thomas Davidson was a Scottish naturalist and paleontologist who became known as an authority on lamp shells, a......
Davies, John
John Davies was an English poet and writing master whose chief work was Microcosmos (1603), a didactic religious......
Davies, Robertson
Robertson Davies was a novelist and playwright whose works offer penetrating observations on Canadian provincialism......
Davis, Lydia
Lydia Davis is an American writer noted for her idiosyncratic and extremely short stories often characterized by......
Davis, Mike
Mike Davis was an American historian, urban theorist, and political activist whose works reflected his commitment......
Davis, Rebecca Blaine Harding
Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis was an American essayist and writer, remembered primarily for her story “Life in the......
Davis, Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne Davis was an Irish writer and politician who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland......
Dawkins, Richard
Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, ethologist, and popular-science writer who emphasized the......
Day, Clarence
Clarence Day was an American writer whose greatest popular success was his autobiographical Life with Father. Educated......
Day-Lewis, C.
C. Day-Lewis was one of the leading British poets of the 1930s; he then turned from poetry of left-wing political......
de la Roche, Mazo
Mazo de la Roche was a Canadian author whose series of novels about the Whiteoak family of Jalna (the name of their......
de Man, Paul
Paul de Man was a Belgian-born literary critic and theorist, along with Jacques Derrida one of the two major proponents......
de Mille, Agnes
Agnes de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer who further developed the narrative aspect of dance and......
De Quincey, Thomas
Thomas De Quincey was an English essayist and critic, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.......
De Vinne, Theodore L.
Theodore L. De Vinne was an American author of many scholarly books on the history of typography. De Vinne entered......
Defoe, Daniel
Daniel Defoe was an English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, known as the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22)......
DeForest, John William
John William DeForest was an American writer of realistic fiction, author of a major novel of the American Civil......
Delacroix, Eugène
Eugène Delacroix was one of the greatest French Romantic painters, whose use of colour was influential in the development......
Delany, Samuel R.
Samuel R. Delany is an American science-fiction novelist and critic whose highly imaginative works address sexual,......
Delblanc, Sven
Sven Delblanc was a Swedish novelist who was notable for his use of the intrusive narrator and for the incorporation......
Deledda, Grazia
Grazia Deledda was a novelist who was influenced by the verismo (q.v.; “realism”) school in Italian literature.......
Delibes, Miguel
Miguel Delibes was a Spanish novelist, essayist, and journalist who wrote widely of travel, the outdoors, sport,......
Dell, Floyd
Floyd Dell was a novelist and radical journalist whose fiction examined the changing mores in sex and politics......
Demolder, Eugène
Eugène Demolder was a Belgian novelist, short-story writer, and art critic who was a member of the Jeune Belgique......
Dennie, Joseph
Joseph Dennie was an essayist and editor who was a major literary figure in the United States in the early 19th......
DePrince, Michaela
Michaela DePrince was a Sierra Leonean-born American ballet dancer known for her technical prowess and tenacious......
Deren, Maya
Maya Deren was an influential director and performer who is often called the “mother” of American avant-garde filmmaking.......
Detrez, Conrad
Conrad Detrez was a Belgian novelist of political conscience with an energetic, darkly humorous style. Abandoning......
Deutsch, Babette
Babette Deutsch was an American poet, critic, translator, and novelist whose volumes of literary criticism, Poetry......
Deyssel, Lodewijk van
Lodewijk van Deyssel was a leading Dutch writer and critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The son of......
Dickens, Charles
Charles Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. His many volumes......
Dickey, James
James Dickey was an American poet, novelist, and critic best known for his poetry combining themes of nature mysticism,......
Dickson, David
David Dickson was an American farmer, enslaver, and writer on Southern agriculture. A prosperous cotton farmer......
Dictys Cretensis
Dictys Cretensis, author of a pseudo-chronicle of the Trojan War. Dictys was supposed to have accompanied the Cretan......
Diderot, Denis
Denis Diderot was a French man of letters and philosopher who, from 1745 to 1772, served as chief editor of the......
Didion, Joan
Joan Didion was an American novelist and essayist known for her lucid prose style and incisive depictions of social......
Dillard, Annie
Annie Dillard was an American writer best known for her meditative essays on the natural world. In 1975 she won......
Dinesen, Isak
Isak Dinesen was a Danish writer whose finely crafted stories, set in the past and pervaded with an aura of supernaturalism,......
Dingelstedt, Franz Ferdinand, Freiherr von
Franz Ferdinand, count von Dingelstedt was a German poet, playwright, and theatrical producer known for his biting......
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius was a Greek author noted for his history of Greek philosophy, the most important existing secondary......
Dionysius Telmaharensis
Dionysius Telmaharensis was a patriarch of the Syrian Jacobite church and author of an important source document......
Diop, Birago
Birago Diop was a Senegalese poet and recorder of traditional folktales and legends of the Wolof people. Diop received......
Dixon, Thomas
Thomas Dixon was a U.S. novelist, dramatist, and legislator who vigorously propagated ideas of white supremacy.......
Dobell, Sydney Thompson
Sydney Thompson Dobell was an English poet of the so-called Spasmodic school. The long dramatic poem The Roman......
Dobrolyubov, Nikolay Aleksandrovich
Nikolay Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov was a radical Russian utilitarian critic who rejected traditional and Romantic......
Dobson, Austin
Austin Dobson was an English poet, critic, and biographer whose love and knowledge of the 18th century lent a graceful......
Doctorow, E.L.
E.L. Doctorow was an American novelist known for his skillful manipulation of traditional genres. Doctorow graduated......
Dodds, Baby
Baby Dodds was an American musician, a leading early jazz percussionist and one of the first major jazz drummers......
Dodge, Mary Abigail
Mary Abigail Dodge was an American essayist and editor whose writings included works both of homely wit and in......
Donaldson, Sam
Sam Donaldson is an American television journalist best known for his long and distinguished career at ABC (the......
Donnay, Maurice
Maurice Donnay was a French playwright whose dramas deal with love and adultery, social problems, and the manners......
Donne, John
John Donne was a leading English poet of the Metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (1621–31).......
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the darkest......