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Authors
People who write or wrote books, though not necessarily for a living.
Remember, There Is No Such Thing As Notability.
The preponderance of recent authors probably reflects the biases of the tropers updating the index.
The nearly exclusive emphasis on authors of fiction reflects the basic purpose of the wiki.
When adding examples, please put them in the correct chronological section.

Before 500 CE. (Classical)

Regrettably, many of the oldest classics such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Bible are essentially anonymous works. For the purposes of this page, "Classical" refers to all writers before the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. These authors are arranged chronologically, divided by place of origin.

Chinese

  • Laozi (Lao Tse, Lao-Tsu): (traditionally, he is said to have lived from 600 BCE to 470 BCE); Early Chinese philosopher; author of Daodejing (Tao Te Ching)
  • Kong Qiu (Confucius): (traditionally September 28, 551 BCE – 479 BCE); The most influential philosopher in the history of China; author of Analects
  • Sunzi (Sun Tzu): (believed to have lived sometime between 476 BCE and 221 BCE) Author of The Art of War
  • Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu, Master Chuang): (Believed to have lived c. 370 BCE - c.301 BCE); Another founding figure of Taoism along with Laozi; author of Zhuangzi. Probably best known in the West for this:
    Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.

Greek

  • Homer: (born c.800 BCE, died c.750 BCE) Author/collector of The Iliad and The Odyssey, the oldest written examples of many tropes. Homer himself was blind and illiterate, so his works were transmitted by oral tradition.
  • Hesiod: Rough contemporary of Homer whose Theogony set down the relationships between the gods and other beings of Classical Mythology.
  • Aeschylus (c.525 BCE to c.456 BCE) was a Greek playwright who adapted many myths and legends.
  • Sophocles (c.496 BCE to c.406 BCE) was a Greek playwright who adapted many myths and legends.
  • Euripides (c.480 BCE to c.406 BCE) was a Greek playwright who adapted many myths and legends.
  • Aristophanes: Comic playwright, contemporary with Euripides and Sophocles, as well as Socrates. The Modern Major General knows his "Croaking Frogs".
  • Herodotus: The Father of History, he compiled a history of the known world (Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians, mostly, with Scythians and barbarians around the edges) that sought to explain the causes of the Persian Wars.
  • Thucydides: What Herodotus did for the Persian Wars, Thucydides did for the Peloponnesian War (but with less digressions, more analysis and some awesome speeches).
  • Socrates: Greek philosopher. Left no writings, but was of great influence because of his effect on
  • Plato: The first Greek philosopher from whom we have complete works with great influence on later thought;
  • Aristotle: one of Plato's student, also a Greek philosopher; author of Poetics, oldest existing work of literary criticism, in which he identified quite a few tropes.
  • Sappho: The only surviving female poet from antiquity, she was a native of Lesbos and the reason modern-day lesbians are called lesbians.
  • Aesop: The author — or at least attributed author of Aesops Fables. May never have existed.

Indian

  • Valmiki (c. 400 BCE) author of Ramayana, and attributed with establishing the form for Sanskrit poetry.

Roman

  • Plautus: Roman comic playwright, the author of Miles Gloriosus.
  • Cicero: Roman politician, contemporary of Julius Caesar, whose Cataline Orations, other speeches, letters, and philosophical and rhetorical treatises are still widely read.
  • Virgil: Roman poet, contemporary of Augustus, who composed The Aeneid, setting out how Trojan refugees founded the greatest city in the world. Or, rather, founded the tribe that would later give birth to the founders.
  • Horace: Another poet active around the time of Augustus, wrote a variety of material, including satire and odes. Coined several phrases still in current use, including Carpe diem.
  • Ovid: Poet, contemporary of Virgil, who wrote the Metamorphoses, a large collection of myths dealing with love and transformations, and much other material, including a makeup manual.
  • Livy: Roman historian who wrote an acccount of the city's history from its founding by Romulus and Remus on down to his own time (Augustus's reign).
  • Juvenal: Roman satirist writing in the early second century AD. Treated greed, sexual immorality, and the generally terrible quality of urban life.
  • Martial: The epigrammist who wrote pithy little verses about the life of the upper class around the time Juvenal was active.
  • Suetonius and Tacitus: Contemporaries of Juvenal and Martial who went into history. Tacitus recorded events from the death of Augustus up to the assassination of Domitian; most of his work has been lost. Suetonius wrote biographies of the Emperors from Julius Caesar to Domitian. These two authors' work forms most of the basis for I Claudius.
  • Vegetius: Late Roman writer, mostly known for his treatise on military matters.

500CE to 1400CE (Mediaeval)

These are the writers between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, loosely dated as between the fifth and fourteenth centuries AD. A number of pieces from this period are also anonymous, including Beowulf and The Song of Roland. These are listed in chronological order and divided by geographic area.

British Isles

  • Geoffrey of Monmouth: (c. 1100 – c. 1155)) Author of the Historia Regum Britanniae, which includes one of the earliest accounts of King Arthur, as well as much of Shakespeare's source material. Mixed fiction/legend with history quite freely.

France

  • Chretien de Troyes: (Dates of birh and death uncertain; mid- to late-1100's) French troubadour who made great contributions to the Arthurian canon, including the quest for the Holy Grail and possibly Sir Launcelot.

Iceland

  • Snorri Sturluson: (1178 – September 23, 1241)) Icelandic poet, lawyer, and lawspeaker who composed the Prose Edda, setting out many of the elements of Norse Mythology. Tolkien used names from Sturluson's work for the Dwarves in The Hobbit and for Gandalf. He also wrote the Heimskringla, a history; and may be the author of Egil's Saga

Italy

Japanese

  • Murasaki Shikibu: (c. 973–c. 1014 or 1025): Author of The Tale of Genji, Japanese noblewoman, novelist and poet. Her real name is unknown.
  • Sei Shonagon: (c.966 - 1017) Author of The Pillow Book. A Lady-in-waiting of Empress Sadako, her real name is not known for certain, but most scholars believe it is Kiyohara Nagiko.

1300-1700 CE (Renaissance)

These writers wrote between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries—a very broad span of time, which includes the Reformation and the beginnings of modern thought. The Renaissance began in Italy, but its influence spread slowly to the rest of Europe. These authors are listed in chronological order, divided by area.

Italian

  • Boccaccio: (1313 – 21 December 1375); Influenced such greats as Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer. And by "influenced", I mean, "They just rewrote his stories". He, like Dante before him, wrote in Italian, rather than Latin.
  • Niccolo Machiavelli: (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527); Italian. Author of another Art of War, The Prince, and The Discourses; Italian political thinker whose influence is still felt.

Chinese

  • Shi Nai'an: (c. 1296 - c. 1372); The Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature. Some believe him to be Luo Guanzhong or one of his teachers.
  • Luo Guanzhong: (c. 1330-1400); The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature.
  • Wu Cheng'en: (c. 1500 - c. 1582); Journey To The West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature. Unlike most serious literature in China at the time, it was written in the vernacular.

British Isles

  • Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400); English. Author and poet. Best known for The Canterbury Tales, even though it's an unfinished work. Credited with being the first to regularly use vernacular English rather than Latin or French.
  • Sir Thomas Mallory: (c. 1405 – March 14, 1471); English. Compiler or author of Le Morte d'Arthur, generally regarded as the foundation of modern Arthurian tales.
  • Sir Thomas More: (February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535); English. Author of Utopia
  • Christopher Marlowe: (baptised February 26, 1564 – May 30, 1593); English. Poet, dramatist, and translator, he is probably best known for The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, The Jew Of Malta, and Tamburlaine. He was one of the first to write English drama in blank verse.
  • William Shakespeare: (baptised April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) English. 38 plays, 154 sonnets and other works. He is the inventor or best-known source of many tropes, phrases and words.
  • John Milton: (December 9, 1608 - November 8, 1674); English. Poet and pamphleteer, his most seminal works are Areopagitica and Paradise Lost.

Spain

  • Miguel de Cervantes: (September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616)) Author of Don Quixote and a pile of plays. Don Quixote is often considered the first Western novel.

France

  • Charles Perrault: (January 12, 1628 – May 16, 1703); French. Credited creating the genre of Fairy Tale when he published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals (Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé) in 1697, with the subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose (Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oie)

18th Century

American

  • Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence (principal author)
  • "Publius" (Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison): The Federalist Papers, American political philosophy.
  • Thomas Paine: Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason, among other works. Famous for involvement in American Revolution

British Isles:

  • Jonathan Swift:(1667 – 1745) Irish; Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, and other works; lived on the cusp of the 17th and 18th centuries.
  • Colley Cibber: (1671-1757) English; Poet Laureate from 1730. Playwright, adapter of Shakespeare, and object of Pope's heroic-couplet satire The Dunciad.
  • Edmund Burke: (1729 - 1797) Anglo Irish; Reflections on the Revolution in France and many others. Considered by many as the father of modern political conservatism.

France

  • Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673); Playwright and actor, considered by many to have written some of the most brilliant comedies in the Western theatre. Best known for {{Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite}}, The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, and The Imaginary Invalid. Les Fourberies de Scapin (literally, "Scapin's Deceits") was adapted for the Broadway stage as Scapino!.
  • Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet): (1694 – 1778); Hugely prolific the author of over 20,000 works ranging from pamphlets to treatises to novels. Best known for Candide and the short story Micromegas (one of the earliest works depicting aliens visiting Earth).

Chinese

  • Cao Xueqin: (c.1715 - c. 1764); Dream Of The Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is believed by many to be the greatest novel written in the Chinese language

19th Century

. Quoted too many times to count.

20th and 21st Centuries

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