Flannery O'Connor wrote many short stories of very odd characters in the Deep South

It is the birthday of Southern writer Flannery O'Connor (1925), whose odd characters and themes of theology have won her a passionate following in literary circles. O'Connor was a devout Catholic surrounded by Southern Protestantism in Georgia. She wrote numerous short stories but only two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960). Her short story collections include A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955), Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965), and The Complete Stories (1971), which won the National Book Award. She died from lupus in 1964 at the age of 39.

French writer Roger Martin du Gard won the Nobel Prize, wrote of middle class family

It is the birthday of French writer Roger Martin du Gard (1881), who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937. Du Gard's best known work is The World of the Thibaults, the story of two brothers from a well-to-do middle-class French family and their reactions to life in France before and after World War I. It is a multi-volume sweeping saga in the Tolstoy tradition, following the family throughout their lives and deaths.

Louis L'Amour, among the world's most popular writers, wrote of the American West

It is the birthday of writer Louis L'Amour (1908), whose tales of the American West have thrilled readers for generations. Scholars consider him one of the world's most popular writers. Though he was best known for his 89 novels and numerous short story collections, L'Amour also wrote two non-fiction works, Frontier (1984) and Education of a Wondering Man (1989), published after his death.

Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House more performed than Shakespeare

It is the birthday of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828), who is considered one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. Ibsen's play A Doll's House (1879) is the most performed play in the world, beating out even Shakespeare's works for the distinction. The three-act drama concerns a woman who is leaving her husband to discover herself. Though it has become a favorite in feminist circles, Ibsen claimed no intention to write propaganda. He described his work as a "description of humanity."