12 April 1934. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, Tender Is the Night, was published in the USA. It had been serialised in Scribner’s Magazine between January and April 1934 in 4 separate issues. The title of the novel is taken from the poem Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats. pic.twitter.com/uWNSB3qFoB

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 12, 2023

13 April 1906. Acclaimed playwright, Samuel Beckett, was born in Dublin. He won the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature. Best known play was Waiting for Godot, which was voted the “most significant English language play of the 20th century” in a poll conducted by the National Theatre. pic.twitter.com/YAGU4FowSG

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 13, 2023

13 April 1939. Seamus Heaney was born in Tamniaran, near Castledawson, Northern Ireland. He won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist. American poet, Robert Lowell, described him as “the most important Irish poet since Yeats”. pic.twitter.com/vrxEuplV9X

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 13, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1993, novelist ("The Big Rock Candy Mountain", "Angle of Repose"), environmentalist, “The Dean of Western Writers”, Wallace Stegner died in Santa Fe, New Mexico; car accident, aged 84. Lincoln-Noyes Cemetery, Greensboro, Vermont https://t.co/0JtB3JuBGg pic.twitter.com/exuYBLsPPe

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 13, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2006 novelist (The Comforters, The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, The Driver's Seat, Memento Mori), short story writer, poet and essayist Muriel Spark died in Florence, Tuscany, Italy at the age of 88. Cemetery of Sant’Andrea Apostolo in Oliveto https://t.co/0JtB3JuBGg pic.twitter.com/c0PtLSftrB

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 13, 2023

13 April 2015. Nobel Prize winning novelist, Günter Grass, died (aged 87). He’s best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum, the first book of his Danzig Trilogy, the others being Cat and Mouse and Dog Years. pic.twitter.com/DHYcjJ7v0M

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 13, 2023

13 April 1953. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming was published in the UK. Casino Royale introduces 007 James Bond, an agent of British intelligence. There have been 2 film versions: the 1967 spoof version, starring David Niven, and the 2006 adaptation starring Daniel Craig. pic.twitter.com/ESZiFMLpp7

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 13, 2023

14 April 1939. The classic novel, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck was first published in the USA. It’s set in the Great Depression, focusing on the poor Joad farming family struggling with economic hardship. The novel helped Steinbeck to win the Nobel Prize in 1962. pic.twitter.com/haqc73Tshl

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 14, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1986, existentialist philosopher, feminist, social theorist, author (The Second Sex, She Came to Stay, The Mandarins, Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée), Simone de Beauvoir died; pneumonia in Paris, aged 78. Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris https://t.co/oJxowcHPwO pic.twitter.com/PAGFgxikyv

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 14, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1927, journalist and author (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera)) Gaston Leroux died in Nice, France at the age of 58. Cimetiére du Château, Nice https://t.co/KOf9lyC3RO pic.twitter.com/6KYkHvqsGu

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 15, 2023

15 April 1929. Children’s author, James Barrie, donated his book copyright for Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. It provided huge extra funding for the hospital until the copyright expired on the 70th anniversary of Barrie’s death in 2007. pic.twitter.com/gr50hLARaZ

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 15, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1980, philosopher, playwright (No Exit), novelist (La Nausée) , screenwriter (The Crucible), political activist, biographer, literary critic, Jean-Paul Sartre died from pulmonary edema in Paris, aged 74. Cimetière de Montparnasse, Paris https://t.co/KOf9lyC3RO pic.twitter.com/ljkiHlcGsh

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 15, 2023

16 April 1922. Acclaimed British novelist, Kingsley Amis, was born in London. His best known novel was Lucky Jim, a biting satire of life at a British university. In 2008, The Times ranked him 9th in its list of the 50 Greatest British Writers since 1945. pic.twitter.com/cntm6ltrGv

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 16, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1968, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (So Big, Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant), short story writer, playwright, member of the Algonquin Round Table, Edna Ferber died from stomach cancer at her home New York City at the age of 82. Cremation https://t.co/9MLTLMAdfr pic.twitter.com/Kj2u3m4Vsw

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 16, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1994 novelist (Invisible Man), literary critic and scholar Ralph Ellison died from pancreatic cancer in New York City at the age of 81. Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan https://t.co/9MLTLMAdfr pic.twitter.com/J10dK5GGoX

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 16, 2023

17 April 1397. Geoffrey Chaucer read the Canterbury Tales for the first time, at the court of Richard II. It was the first major work of literature to promote the use of English over Latin and French within the British Isles but the one which had by far the biggest impact. pic.twitter.com/UVyoteXdKU

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 17, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2014 novelist (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera), short-story writer, screenwriter, journalist, Gabo, Gabriel García Marquez died; pneumonia; Mexico City, aged 87. Cremated remains; La Merced monastery in Cartagena https://t.co/4HiVubP9Mm pic.twitter.com/qsGvdOqbST

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 17, 2023

19 April 1824. Lord Byron, regarded as one of the greatest British poets, died of Malaria (aged 36). He remains widely read and influential. His best-known works are Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. pic.twitter.com/PV9EDUQaEL

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) April 19, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1989 author (novels; Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, short story; The Birds), playwright Daphne du Maurier died, aged 81, at her home in Cornwall. Cremation. Cremated remains scattered off the cliffs at Fowey, Kilmarth, Cornwall https://t.co/QArPyBqbHP pic.twitter.com/2j5hAp5kMy

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) April 19, 2023