Sullivan Ballou (1829 - 1861)

Civil War Union Army Officer. He served as Major of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry. On July 14, 1861, Ballou wrote an eloquent letter to his wife predicting his death. He was wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, and died from his injuries a week later. His sentiments in […]

James Graham Ballard (1930 - 2009)

Author. He is best known for his novels “Crash” (1973) and “Empire of the Sun” (1984), both of which became motion picture adaptations. He was born James Graham Ballard in Shanghai, China into an English family. As a child he endured life while in an internment camp under Japanese occupation. These events were to become […]

John Ball (1911 - 1988)

Author. A modern crime novelist, he wrote the ‘Virgil Tibbs’ series of books about a Black homicide investigator from Pasadena. The most well renowned was “In The Heat Of The Night” (1965), becoming a theatrical film in 1967 starring Sidney Portier and Rod Steiger and a television series in the late 1980s which featured Howard […]

James Arthur Baldwin (1924 - 1987)

Author.  Family links:  Parents:  Emma Berdis Joynes Baldwin (1900 – 1999)  Spouse:  Lucien Happersberger (1932 – 2010)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Stomach cancer

Faith Baldwin (1893 - 1978)

Author. A native of New Rochelle, New York, she is considered one of the most successful writers of light fiction in the 20th century whose works targeted an audience of middle-class women. They include “Skyscraper,” “Alimony,” “No Private Heaven,” “American Family,” “Twenty-Four Hours A Day,” “White Collar Girl,” “Change Of Heart,” “The Office Wife,” “Adam’s […]

John L. Balderston (1889 - 1954)

Screenwriter, Playwright. Born John Lloyd Balderston, he began his career as a journalist around 1912 while still a student at Columbia University. During World War I he was European war correspondent for a newspaper syndicate. After the war he stayed in Europe, working as a foreign correspondent, editor for the Outlook magazine and finally head […]

Nigel Balchin (1908 - 1970)

Acclaimed Author. Born in Potterne in Wiltshire, the youngest son of a shop owner. He was educated at Dauntsey’s School in the nearby town of Devizes and at Peterhouse in Cambridge, where he obtained a First Class Honours degree in Natural Sciences. His first job was as a consultant to Rowntree’s Chocolate in York, where […]

Bela Balazs (1884 - 1949)

Hungarian film critic, writer and poet, born Herbert Bauer. He studied Hungarian and German in school. He wrote his first film in 1924 called Der Sichtbare Mensch (The Visible Man). He then helped Leni Riefenstahl direct her first film, Das Blaue Licht in 1932. One of his best known films is Somewhere in Europe written […]

Ray Stannard Baker (1870 - 1946)

Author of numerous books on the life of President Woodrow Wilson. He was also the technical adviser during the production by 20th Century Fox Company on the motion picture “Wilson.” (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Parents:  Joseph Stannard Baker (1838 – 1912)  Alice Potter Baker (1844 – 1883)  Siblings:  Ray Stannard Baker (1870 – 1946) […]

Karle Wilson Baker (1878 - 1960)

Poet. The 3rd person to be named a fellow to the Texas Institute of Letters. She was the daughter of Kate Florence Montgomery Wilson and William Thomas Murphey Wilson. She attended the Little Rock Academy, and Ouachita Baptist College. When she was nineteen, she enrolled at the University of Chicago where she studied under poet […]

Kage Baker (1952 - 2010)

Kage Baker Science Fiction and Fantasy Author. She shall be best remembered for the “Company” series, a group of 11 novels and numerous short stories about a troupe of time-traveling cyborgs who plunder history on behalf of their 24th. century masters. Living in southern California her entire life, she spent many years in theater, as […]

Elliott Baker (1922 - 2007)

Screenwriter, Author. He is best known for his novel “A Fine Madness”,  which was made into a 1966 film with Sean Connery and Joanne Woodward. After starting his career during the 1950s writing for such shows as “Robert Montgomery Presents”, “Armchair Theatre”,  and “Way Out”, Baker wrote screenplays for the films “Luv”, (1967), “Viva Max!”, […]

Juan Jacobo Bajarlía (1914 - 2005)

Poet, essayist and novelist. He was one of the introducers of vanguardism in Argentina. Also a lawyer, wrote “Los Números de la Muerte,” “La Esfinge,” “Pierrot,” “Monteagudo,” “Los Robots” and many other books. Internationally, is best remembered for winning in 1964 the award “Mystery Magazine Ellery Queen.” (bio by: 380W)

Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (1934 - 2010)

Author. She produced 18 novels of the ‘dark comedic thriller’ and historic fiction genre. Raised in Liverpool under unpleasant familial circumstances that appeared frequently in her books, she was expelled from the Merchant Taylor’s School at 14 over the explicit sexual content of some poetry she had written. After finishing her education at a different […]

Charles W. Bailey, II (1929 - 2012)

Journalist, Author. Best known for his co-penning of the political thriller “Seven Days in May” (1962), which became a 1964 motion picture adaptation starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Born Charles Waldo Bailey, II, the native of New England was born into a diversely talented family, his father was a university administrator, his mother a […]

Eduard Bagritsky (1895 - 1934)

Poet.  One of the few Soviet authors to write in the late  romantic tradition.  He celebrated post-revolutionary life in the USSR with an exuberant yet unsentimental lyricism.  His long narrative poem “The Lay of Opanas” (1926),  written in the style of a Ukrainian folk epic and set during the Russian Civil War,  is considered his […]

Enid Bagnold (1889 - 1981)

Author. She was born in Rochester, Kent, England. During First World War, she worked as a nurse and later, as a voluntary driver. She reflected her experiences in her books. She is best remembered for works such as “National Velvet,” “The Chalk Garden,” “A Matter of Gravity,” “The Difficulty of Getting Married,” “The Happy Foreigner” […]

Richard Baer (1928 - 2008)

Television Screenwriter. Born in New York City, he contributed to some of the most popular programs from the 1950s into the 1980s, and earned an Emmy Award-nomination for series “Hennesey”. Baer began his career writing for series “The Life of Riley” and had script credits with, “Leave It to Beaver”, “Have Gun- Will Travel”, “The […]

Arthur “Bugs” Baer (1886 - 1969)

Journalist and Humorist. Born into a family of French origin, he graduated from “Artillery Officers School” in Louisville, Kentucky. He later began his career at the Washington Post as a sports journalist. His talents as cartoonist and humorist was soon regarded by the public for having designed the body of baseball players with the look […]

Lode Baekelmans (1879 - 1965)

Flemish writer.

John Haden Badley (1865 - 1967)

Author, Educator. Born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England son of Dr. James Payton Badley and Laura Elizabeth Best his wife. He was the grandson of John Badley, F.R.C.S one of the original 300 fellows of the Royal College of Surgery. Early in life he saw the poverty and squalor of many working class in the Midlands. […]

James Bacon (1914 - 2010)

Columnist, Author, Actor. Born James Richard Hughes Bacon, the son of a journalist, he studied at the University of Notre Dame and Syracuse University from where he received his degree in Journalism; he began his career initially as an intern with the South Bend News-Times, before joining the Associated Press. Following service in the US […]

Delia Salter Bacon (1811 - 1859)

Author. She became convinced that works attributed to William Shakespeare were actually written by Francis Bacon, Edmund Spenser, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who, for political reasons, credited them to an obscure actor named William Shakespeare. She published “The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded” in 1857, but became insane immediately after. Her theories have […]

Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769 - 1798)

Journalist. The grandson of statesman Benjamin Franklin, he was known as “Benny” to his grandfather, who doted on his namesake. He and cousin William Temple, joined their grandfather to France, receiving an education in there and in Switzerland. When Franklin died in 1790, Benjamin Bache at his bedside. With the inheritance Franklin left him, Bache […]

Harivansh Rai Bachchan (1907 - 2003)

Poet, Author. His poetry collection entitled “Madhushala” was published in 1935. He was the first Indian to graduate from Cambridge in the UK and later became a professor of english at the Allahabad University in India from 1941 to 1952. He is also credited with translating the work of Shakespeare into Hindi. Some of his […]

Mihály Babits (1883 - 1941)

Noted Hungarian Poet. Founder of the literary periodical NYUGAT. (bio by: G. N.)

Isaac Babel (1894 - 1940)

Author.  A master of the short story,  he is regarded by many as the greatest Russian writer of the 1920s. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, to a family of Jewish merchants, he began writing as a teenager under the influence of Maupassant. In 1916 Babel met author Maxim Gorky, who published two of his stories but […]

Bernie Babcock (1868 - 1962)

Author. She was a playwright, novelist, and journalist who published around 40 books over a long literary career, while founding a natural history museum and the Arkansas Historical Society. Born Julia Burnelle Smade, she was raised in Russellville, Arkansas, from the time she was a toddler. Bernie did well in school, though the imagination she […]

Vital Aza (1851 - 1912)

Author. He was born in Pola de Lena, Asturias. He began writing for the newpapers, but soon, he triumphed with his comedic playwrights. He is remembered for “Basta de Matemáticas,” “Aprobados y Suspensos,” “Con la Música a Otra Parte,” “El Rey Que Rabió” and his poetry books “Todo en Broma,” “Bagatelas” and “Frivolidades.” He died […]

Marcel André Aymé (1902 - 1967)

Author. A novelist and essayist, his most famous works are “La jument verte” (The Green Mare), “La passe-muraille” (The Man Who Walked Through Walls). He was also active in the theatre and in movies as a playwright. (bio by: Apats)