Occupation
WRITERS
With 7,302 biographies, Writers are the 4th most common occupation in Pantheon, behind Soccer Players, Politicians, and Actors.
People
Pantheon has 7,619 people classified as writers born between 2300 BC and 2006. Of these 7,619, 1,904 (24.99%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living writers include Stephen King, Peter Handke, and Patrick Modiano. The most famous deceased writers include Dante Alighieri, Edgar Allan Poe, and Victor Hugo. As of April 2024, 315 new writers have been added to Pantheon including Larissa Reissner, Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi, and Li Ao.
Living Writers
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Stephen King
1947 - Present
HPI: 81.49
Peter Handke
1942 - Present
HPI: 76.29
Patrick Modiano
1945 - Present
HPI: 76.09
J. M. Coetzee
1940 - Present
HPI: 75.60
Alejandro Jodorowsky
1929 - Present
HPI: 73.28
Ken Follett
1949 - Present
HPI: 73.12
Margaret Atwood
1939 - Present
HPI: 72.86
Han Kang
1970 - Present
HPI: 71.41
Marilyn vos Savant
1946 - Present
HPI: 69.58
William Gibson
1948 - Present
HPI: 67.70
Sarah Ferguson
1959 - Present
HPI: 66.96
Joyce Carol Oates
1938 - Present
HPI: 66.27
Deceased Writers
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Homer
800 BC - 750 BC
HPI: 95.41
Fyodor Dostoevsky
1821 - 1881
HPI: 93.20
William Shakespeare
1564 - 1616
HPI: 92.59
Dante Alighieri
1265 - 1321
HPI: 92.13
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1749 - 1832
HPI: 90.96
J. R. R. Tolkien
1892 - 1973
HPI: 90.69
Edgar Allan Poe
1809 - 1849
HPI: 90.35
Hans Christian Andersen
1805 - 1875
HPI: 90.14
Leo Tolstoy
1828 - 1910
HPI: 89.82
Franz Kafka
1883 - 1924
HPI: 89.62
Victor Hugo
1802 - 1885
HPI: 89.52
Voltaire
1694 - 1778
HPI: 89.44
Newly Added Writers (2025)
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Larissa Reissner
1895 - 1926
HPI: 60.97
Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi
1911 - 1998
HPI: 58.21
Li Ao
1935 - 2018
HPI: 56.38
Lídia Jorge
1946 - Present
HPI: 56.35
Carolina Maria de Jesus
1914 - 1977
HPI: 55.56
Simon Beckett
1960 - Present
HPI: 54.38
Norah Vincent
1968 - 2022
HPI: 53.60
José Rodrigues dos Santos
1964 - Present
HPI: 53.54
Greg Iles
1960 - 2025
HPI: 52.55
Philip Yancey
1949 - Present
HPI: 52.42
Alain Soral
1958 - Present
HPI: 52.34
Nora Ikstena
1969 - 2026
HPI: 52.29
Places
Most writers were born in United States (1305), United Kingdom (791), and France (689). By city, the most common birth places were Paris (163), New York City (162), and London (117).
Places Over Time
The earliest biographies classified as writers in Pantheon are Luqman, Kikkuli, and Enheduanna. The concentration of writers was largest during the Radio & Film Era, which lasted from 1900 to 1949. Some birth or death locations for earlier writers are unknown, which may account for timeline differences below.
Lifespans
Which Writers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 25 most globally memorable Writers since 1700.
