1
William Shakespeare
(English Playwright & Poet Who is Regarded as the Greatest Writer in the English Language)
662
192
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: April 26, 1564
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Died: April 23, 1616
2
Winston Churchill
(Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1940 - 1945, 1951 - 1955))
279
103
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: November 30, 1874
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Blenheim Palace, England, United Kingdom
Died: January 24, 1965
3
Woody Harrelson
(Actor and Playwright)
152
46
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: July 23, 1961
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Midland, Texas, United States
Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
4
W. E. B. Du Bois
(Civil Rights Activists)
186
28
Listed In: Media Personalities
Birthdate: February 23, 1868
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States
Died: August 27, 1963
5
William Wordsworth
(Poet)
185
73
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: April 7, 1770
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Kingdom of Great Britain
Died: April 23, 1850
6
William Blake
(English Poet Who is Considered a Seminal Figure in the History of the Poetry of the Romantic Age)
83
28
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: November 28, 1757
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: London, England, United Kingdom
Died: August 12, 1827
7
Walt Whitman
(One of the Most Influential Poets in the American Canon, Regarded as the 'Father of Free Verse')
76
11
Listed In: Media Personalities
Birthdate: May 31, 1819
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: West Hills, New York, United States
Died: March 26, 1892
8
W B Yeats
(One of the Greatest English-Language Poets of the 20th Century and 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature Winner)
98
19
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: June 13, 1865
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Sandymount, Ireland
Died: January 28, 1939
9
William Faulkner
(Regarded as One of the Most Significant American Writers of All Time)
45
16
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: September 25, 1897
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New Albany, Mississippi, United States
Died: July 6, 1962
10
Woody Guthrie
(Singer-songwriter)
48
17
Listed In: Singers
Birthdate: July 14, 1912
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Okemah, Oklahoma, United States
Died: October 3, 1967
11
Walter Raleigh
(English Statesman, Soldier, Writer, Explorer and One of the Most Notable Figures of the Elizabethan Era)
28
8
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: 1552 AD
Birthplace: Hayes Barton,United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Died: October 29, 1618
12
William S. Burroughs
(Best Known for His Third Novel 'Naked Lunch')
25
10
Listed In: Film & Theater Personalities
Birthdate: February 5, 1914
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Died: August 2, 1997
13
Washington Irving
(Author, Historian, Diplomat)
53
8
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: April 3, 1783
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Died: November 28, 1859
14
Wilfred Owen
(Poet)
69
31
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: March 18, 1893
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Oswestry
Died: November 4, 1918
15
William Penn
(Writer)
32
6
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: October 14, 1644
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: London, England
Died: July 30, 1718
16
Wole Soyinka
(Author, Poet, Playwright)
93
10
17
Walter Scott
(Novelist and Poet known for his Works Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Lady of the Lake)
31
10
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: August 15, 1771
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: September 21, 1832
18
William F. Buckley, Jr.
(Editor)
20
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: November 24, 1925
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: February 27, 2008
Height: 6'1" (185 cm)
19
Wayne Dyer
(Self-Help Author and Motivational Speaker)
24
8
20
W. H. Auden
(One of the Greatest Authors of 20th Century)
14
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: February 21, 1907
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: York, England, United Kingdom
Died: September 29, 1973
21
William Morris
(Textile Designer, Poet)
31
21
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: March 24, 1834
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Walthamstow, England
Died: October 3, 1896
22
William Golding
(Novelist)
22
4
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: September 19, 1911
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Newquay
Died: June 19, 1993
23
William Goldman
(Novelist)
9
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: August 12, 1931
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Highland Park, Illinois, USA
Died: November 16, 2018
Height: 6'1" (185 cm)
24
Wendell Berry
(American Novelist, Poet and the First Living Writer to Be Inducted Into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame)
20
6
25
W. Kamau Bell
(Comedian)
7
0
Listed In: Film & Theater Personalities
Birthdate: January 26, 1973
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Palo Alto, California, United States U.S.
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
26
Willa Cather
(Author)
11
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: December 7, 1873
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Winchester
Died: April 24, 1947
27
William Gibson
(Science-Fiction Writer Known for His Novel ‘Neuromancer’ and a Pinoeer of 'Cyberpunk' Genre)
8
4
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: March 17, 1948
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Conway, South Carolina, United States
28
William Cowper
(Poet)
68
17
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: November 26, 1731
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Berkhamsted
Died: April 25, 1800
29
Wilbur A. Smith
(Zambian-born British-South African novelist Who Specialised in Historical Fiction )
10
2
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: January 9, 1933
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Kabwe, Zambia
Died: November 13, 2021
30
Walter Benjamin
(German Jewish Philosopher, Cultural Critic and Essayist)
11
7
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: July 15, 1892
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: September 26, 1940
31
Win Butler
(Songwriter, Singer, Composer, Poet, Guitarist)
8
4
Listed In: Singers
Birthdate: April 14, 1980
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Truckee, California, United States
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
32
Wilhelm Reich
(One of the Most Radical Figures in the History of Psychiatry)
7
4
Listed In: Intellectuals & Academics
Birthdate: March 24, 1897
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Dobryanychi, Ukraine
Died: November 3, 1957
33
William Maugham
(Novelist & Playwright)
31
5
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: January 25, 1874
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: December 15, 1965
34
William Hazlitt
(English Writer & Literary Critic)
15
3
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: April 10, 1778
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Maidstone, Kent, England
Died: September 18, 1830
35
Will Durant
(American Writer Best Known for His Work 'The Story of Civilization')
5
1
Listed In: Intellectuals & Academics
Birthdate: November 5, 1885
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: North Adams, Massachusetts, United States
Died: November 7, 1981
36
Will Eisner
(Cartoonist)
8
0
Listed In: Media Personalities
Birthdate: March 16, 1917
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: January 3, 2005
37
William Saroyan
(American-Armenian novelist)
6
1
38
Walter Dean Myers
(Writer)
30
8
39
Wallace Stegner
(Author)
13
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: February 18, 1909
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Lake Mills
Died: April 13, 1993
40
Wisława Szymborska
(Polish Poet, Essayist, Translator and Winner of 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature)
14
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: July 2, 1923
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Kórnik, Poland
Died: February 1, 2012
41
William Carlos Williams
(Poet)
6
3
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: September 17, 1883
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Rutherford, New Jersey, United States
Died: March 4, 1963
42
William Cullen Bryant
(Romantic Poet)
10
2
Listed In: Media Personalities
Birthdate: November 3, 1794
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Cummington, Massachusetts
Died: June 12, 1878
43
Wallace Stevens
(Modernist poet)
4
0
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: October 2, 1879
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: August 2, 1955
44
Winston Graham
(Novelist)
5
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: June 30, 1908
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Victoria Park, Manchester, England
Died: July 10, 2003
45
Wilkie Collins
(Novelist, Playwright)
4
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: January 8, 1824
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: London
Died: September 23, 1889
46
William Blackstone
(British Jurist and Judge Known for Writing the 'Commentaries on the Laws of England')
4
0
Listed In: Lawyers & Judges
Birthdate: July 10, 1723
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: London, England
Died: February 14, 1780
47
William Makepeace Thackeray
(Author & Novelist)
15
4
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: July 18, 1811
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Died: December 24, 1863
48
Warsan Shire
(Writer)
5
0
49
William L. Shirer
(Journalist, Historian, Writer)
6
2
Listed In: Intellectuals & Academics
Birthdate: February 23, 1904
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Chicago
Died: December 28, 1993
50
Wilhelm Grimm
(German Anthropologist, Author and One Half of the Popular Literary Duo, 'The Brothers Grimm')
7
0
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: February 24, 1786
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Hanau
Died: December 16, 1859
