It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents the noses.
N.P. Willis (1807-67)
Did you know that the month of June was named for the Roman goddess Juno, patroness of marriage and the well-being of women? While iconic June wedding receptions may be on hold, we can still find reason to celebrate by checking out (some of) the authors whose birthdays occur in this lovely month. So, lift a glass (and a book) to the following literary lights and click on names and book titles to be taken to links.
Colleen McCullough (June 1, 1937-January 9, 2015) Australian novelist Colleen McCullough is best known for her epic romantic novel, The Thorn Birds, which became a wildly popular television mini-series in 1983. In 1997, McCullough was named a “living treasure” by the National Trust of Australia and she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006.
Thomas Hardy (June 2, 1840-January 11, 1928) One of the most renowned novelists and poets in English literary history, Thomas Hardy is best known for his works set in the semi-fictionalized county of Wessex including Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Many of his novels, for example, Far From the Madding Crowd, became popular films. In addition to fiction, he published eight volumes of poetry.
Louise Erdrich (June 6, 1954) As the daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father, Louise Erdrich’s books explore Native-American themes, with major characters representing both sides of her heritage. Her novel The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction. The Plague of Doves won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her most recent book, The Night Watchman, is based on the extraordinary life of her grandfather, who fought against Native dispossession in rural North Dakota in 1953.
Orhan Pamuk (June 7, 1952) Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best selling titles are the novels Snow and My Name Is Red. Arguably Turkey’s most prominent novelist, his works have sold over 13 million copies and have been translated into 63 languages.
Sara Paretsky (June 8, 1947) Credited with transforming the mystery genre through the creation of her female private eye, V. I. Warshawski, Paretsky’s books are international best sellers, appearing in almost thirty languages. The New York Times describes Detective Warshawski as “a proper hero for these times” in mysteries like Dead Land, Shell Game and Indemnity Only.
Patricia Cornwell (June 9, 1956) American mystery writer Patricia Cornwell is best known for her crime novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. The first book in the series, Postmortem, was inspired by a series of sensational murders in Richmond, Virginia, where most of the stories are set. Her most recent Scarpetta book and the sixteenth in the series is Chaos. Her books have sold more than 100 million copies and inspired TV shows based on forensic investigation.
Saul Bellow (June 10, 1915-April 5, 2005) Bellow was an American-Jewish author, Pulitzer Prize winner (for Humboldt’s Gift, 1976,) and winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Literature. In his grand scale heroic comedy, The Adventures of Augie March, Bellow both satirizes and celebrates the American spirit. The 2010 publication of his Letters, a correspondence spanning eight decades, was both an intimate self portrait and a portrait of a century.
James Salter (June 10, 1925-June 19, 2015) Winner of the 2012 PEN/Malamud Award and the 2013 Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction, American novelist James Salter was renowned for his exquisitely crafted, succinct sentences. Author of six novels and two short story collections, his final novel, All That Is, was published in 2013.
Ian McEwan (June 21, 1948) British novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan won the 1998 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his contemporary morality tale, Amsterdam. His novel Atonement received numerous awards, including the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), the National Book Critics’ Circle Fiction Award (2003), and the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003.) Atonement was also made into an Oscar-winning film.
Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947-February 24, 2006) Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards (Parable of the Talents.) In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship. Her novel about time travel, Kindred, has become a cornerstone of Black American literature and remains popular 35 years following its publication.