New games! PlayTrivia andBirthle.

WRITER

Donald E. Westlake

1933 - 2008

Photo of Donald E. Westlake

Icon of person Donald E. Westlake

Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer with more than one hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction and other genres. Westlake created two professional criminal characters who each starred in a long-running series: the relentless, hardboiled Parker (published under the pen name Richard Stark), and John Dortmunder, who featured in a more humorous series.He was a three-time Edgar Award winner and, alongside Joe Gores and William L. DeAndrea, was one of few writers to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, "Too Many Crooks"; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Donald E. Westlake has received more than 715,388 page views. His biography is available in 20 different languages on Wikipedia. Donald E. Westlake is the 1,795th most popular writer (down from 1,511th in 2019), the 2,326th most popular biography from United States (down from 1,856th in 2019) and the 213th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 720k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 56.14

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 20

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.37

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.31

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Page views of Donald E. Westlakes by language


Among WRITERS

Among writers, Donald E. Westlake ranks 1,795 out of 5,755Before him are John of Ephesus, William Caxton, Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, Jorge Manrique, Margarete Buber-Neumann, and I. L. Peretz. After him are Konstantin Paustovsky, David Burliuk, Lady Caroline Lamb, Lilya Brik, Alexandre Benois, and Didymus Chalcenterus.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1933, Donald E. Westlake ranks 124Before him are Máté Fenyvesi, Wayne Shorter, Joachim Kroll, Sacha Distel, Fred Haise, and György Konrád. After him are Luis Bacalov, Saleh Al-Fawzan, Gregory III Laham, Waichiro Omura, Hannelore Kohl, and Lubomyr Husar. Among people deceased in 2008, Donald E. Westlake ranks 78Before him are Cyd Charisse, Rajko Mitić, Estelle Getty, Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, Gerard Damiano, and Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah. After him are Don S. Davis, Henri Salvador, Stanley Kamel, Anthony Minghella, Jean Delannoy, and Dora Ratjen.

Others Born in 1933

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 2008

Go to all Rankings

In United States

Among people born in United States, Donald E. Westlake ranks 2,326 out of 18,182Before him are Richard S. Hamilton (1943), Dean Acheson (1893), David Lane (1938), Edward Weston (1886), Maurice White (1941), and Selena (1971). After him are Clyde Tolson (1900), Charlie Munger (1924), Michael W. Young (1949), Wade Williams (1961), Sela Ward (1956), and Fred Ward (1942).

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Donald E. Westlake ranks 213Before him are Raymond E. Feist (1945), Edmond Hamilton (1904), Fredric Jameson (1934), Joseph D. Pistone (1939), Bernard Malamud (1914), and Robert Silverberg (1935). After him are Cornell Woolrich (1903), Maria Shriver (1955), Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897), Frederik Pohl (1919), Bob Woodward (1943), and Alex Haley (1921).