John Updike won the Pulitzer Prize for two of his famous Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom novels

It is the birthday of novelist John Updike (1932), whose series of novels about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom drew a picture of Protestant, middle class, small-town America. Four novels and a novella told the story of the angst-filled suburban life of a former high school basketball star in modern society. Updike won the Pulitzer Prize for each of the final two novels, Rabbit is Rich (1981) and Rabbit at Rest (1990). The others in the series were Rabbit, Run (1960), Rabbit Redux (1971), and Rabbit Remembered (2001), a novella.

Conrad Richter won a Pulitzer for The Town, part of his trilogy on the American frontier

It is the birthday of writer Conrad Richter (1890) whose book The Town (1950) won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1951. The book was part of his The Awakening Land trilogy, a series that included The Sea of Grass (1936) and The Light in the Forest (1953). The series tells the stories of pioneers settling in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania after the American Revolution. His portraits of frontier America are regarded as among the most accurate ever published. All were adapted for film. Richter also founded a youth magazine and wrote for pulp magazines in the 1930s.

Happy birthday, author Harper Lee

President George W. Bush presented Harper Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

It is the birthday of novelist Harper Lee (1926), whose novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) won the Pulitzer Prize. It is considered a modern classic in American literature, and is her only published book. The book deals with racial prejudice in a small Southern town and is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, Scout Finch. It is based on Lee's childhood in Monroeville, Alabama (where she still lives), and includes the themes of loss of innocence, gender roles, compassion, class and courage.

Happy birthday, Robert Penn Warren

It is the birthday of writer Robert Penn Warren (1905), whose novel All the King’s Men (1946) won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Warren also won Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. No other writer has ever won Pulitzers for both poetry and fiction. Warren also won the Congressional Medal of Freedom and served as Poet Laureate of the United States. The rise of legendary Louisiana politician Huey Long inspired Warren to write All the King’s Men, one of the best books in American literature.