Reference Question of the Month: September

Posted by Judy T.

Who Am I?  Each of the numbered lines below contains a few clues about an author whose birthday is (or was) in September or October.  Can you guess each author’s name?

1.  I was born in Maine, which is still where I live.  The first novel I wrote was Carrie, and I am considered a master of horror fiction.  My books are consistently bestsellers and several have been made into movies.

2.  I was named a Dame of the British Empire in 1971 and was the creator of the famous Belgian detective who relies on his “little gray cells” to solve murder mysteries. 

3.  My best-selling novel, published in 1906, exposed unfair labor practices and filthy conditions in Chicago’s meat-packing houses.  This expose led to passage of the Pure Food and Drug Law.

4.  I started practicing veterinary medicine in Yorkshire, England in 1940.  My wife encouraged me to write about my life as a vet, and my books were huge successes in the United Kingdom and the United States.   

5.  I was born in Dublin, Ireland and am best known for the sophisticated and witty plays I wrote at the end of the 19^th century.  My only novel tells the story of a young man who sells his soul so he will retain his youth and beauty.   It was considered immoral and caused a scandal as did aspects of my personal life.    

6.  I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894.  My first volume of poetry, Tulips and Chimneys, was published in 1923, and I wrote my final volume in 1963.  I always gave my name in lower-case letters with no punctuation.

7. I’ve written many Western novels as well as crime fiction.  Several of my books have been adapted into Hollywood hits. One of my Westerns became a movie starring Paul Newman. My novel about a star struck loan shark became a movie in 1995 starring John Travolta.  Although my Westerns were set in Arizona, I set my early crime fiction in Detroit.  Since 1980, I have often used Florida as a setting for my books.

Answers:  1. Stephen King – born Sept. 21, 1947  2.  Agatha Christie – born Sept. 15, 1890  3.  Upton Sinclair – born Sept. 20, 1878  4.  James Herriott (pen name for James Alfred Wight) – born Oct. 3, 1916  5.  Oscar Wilde – born Oct. 16, 1854  6.  e.e. cummings – born Oct. 14, 1894  7.  Elmore Leonard – born Oct. 11, 1925