2 July 1999. Mario Puzo died (aged 78). He’s best known for his crime novels about the Italian-American mafia, most notably, The Godfather, which he co-adapted into the classic film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. pic.twitter.com/badPJ941Ay

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 2, 2023

2 July 2010. Liverpool-born novelist, Beryl Bainbridge, died (aged 77). Best known for her psychological novels. She popularised the myth of Hitler once living in Liverpool, in “Young Adolf”. In 2008, The Times named her as one of the “50 Greatest British Writers since 1945”. pic.twitter.com/4zl60tvUYx

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 2, 2023

2 July 2016. Elie Wiesel died (aged 87). He was a Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, including, Night, based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald German concentration camps. pic.twitter.com/nDGKuiBFcg

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 2, 2023

3 July 1883. Franz Kafka, one of the most influential novelists of the 20th century, was born in Prague. His work featured isolated protagonists facing bureaucratic obstacles: now known as Kafkaesque. His best known works were The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. pic.twitter.com/iQZVkKt71l

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 3, 2023

3 July 1937. Tom Stoppard was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia. His first major play was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The rest of his work covers the themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom. He is one of the most internationally performed dramatists. pic.twitter.com/A1X2sphOAv

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 3, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1990 journalist, writer (novel Cold Sassy Tree) Olive Ann Burns died of heart failure in Atlanta, aged 65. Grey Hill Cemetery, Commerce, Georgia https://t.co/VD8Tf0Ma1P pic.twitter.com/ZrGiuS3P1h

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) July 4, 2023

6 July 1535. Thomas More (aged 57), was executed for treason. He refused to accept Henry VIII as head of the church. He served as Henry VIII’s Lord High Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532. He was the author of Utopia, about the political system of an imaginary island state. pic.twitter.com/bJodlqZlgB

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 6, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1893, writer (short stories "Boule de Suif", "Le Horla") Guy de Maupassant died from syphilis in the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris at the age of 42. Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris https://t.co/OC22kKukWx pic.twitter.com/LhAlK6zSci

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) July 6, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1962, writer (The Sound and the Fury; As I Lay Dying; Light in August) screenwriter (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep), William Faulkner died; heart attack; Wright’s Sanitorium, Byhalia, Mississippi aged 64. St. Peter’s Cemetery, Oxford MS https://t.co/OC22kKukWx pic.twitter.com/coJnPLZRPn

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) July 6, 2023

6 July 1952. Hilary Mantel was born in Glossop. She twice won the Booker Prize, for her 2009 novel, Wolf Hall, and the 2012 novel, Bring Up the Bodies, the second instalment of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy. The third instalment The Mirror and the Light was released in March 2020. pic.twitter.com/WMN8TKYuUF

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 6, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 1930, Scottish physician and writer (Sherlock Holmes), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died at his home, Windlesham Manor, Crowborough, East Sussex, England from a heart attack at the age of 71. Minstead churchyard in New Forest, Hampshire, England https://t.co/SJ5aoBd8v5 pic.twitter.com/MfxiSXaZX1

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) July 7, 2023

#RIP #OTD in 2008, sister of Suzy Parker, engineer, supermodel (Revlon's Fire and Ice campaign), business owner, cookbook author, Dorian Leigh died in a Falls Church, Virginia nursing home from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 91 https://t.co/SJ5aoBd8v5 pic.twitter.com/dTmLbCwJsM

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) July 7, 2023

8 July 1621. Jean La Fontaine was born in Champagne, France. He’s best known for his “Fables”, a genre he popularised. Fontaine did not invent the Fables, but he developed and refined them from the tradition of the ancient Greek storyteller, Aesop. pic.twitter.com/rX1aGIqYy4

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 8, 2023

8 July 1822. The English poet, Percy Shelley (aged 29), drowned in Italy, while sailing his boat Ariel on the Gulf of Spezia. Shelley was not famous or acclaimed during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death. pic.twitter.com/b14ouy940F

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 8, 2023

9 July 1797. Dublin born philosopher, Edmund Burke, died (aged 68). He’s best known for his influential book? Reflections on the Revolution in France, which predicted it would end in tyranny and disaster. pic.twitter.com/XlvLfdceI1

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 9, 2023

9 July 1901. Romantic novelist, Barbara Cartland, was born in Birmingham. She was one of the most prolific and commercially successful novelists of all time. Her 723 novels were translated into 38 languages, and have sold over 750 million copies. pic.twitter.com/RCElxvuEOv

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 9, 2023

10 July 1871. Acclaimed French novelist, Marcel Proust, was born in Auteuil, France. He’s best known for his monumental novel Remembrance of Things Past, which was published in 7 parts between 1913 and 1927. pic.twitter.com/WZ0tRLUvX7

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 10, 2023

11 July 1960. The classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was first published, in the USA. It later became a successful Hollywood film. Lee only published one other book, which was a draft of her first novel. In 2007, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom pic.twitter.com/JhF0WWPV1p

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 11, 2023

British writer, traveller and archaeologist, Gertrude Bell, who played a major role in establishing and helping administer the modern state of #Iraq, died in #Baghdad #OTD 1926 https://t.co/6alGCEoczJ #womeninhistory pic.twitter.com/cOowvjNgrw

— The History Press (@TheHistoryPress) July 12, 2019