Biographies of American writers, novelists, and screenwriters, including authors whose books became films and TV series. Explore their early lives, major works, and literary careers.
American writers
Kate Bornstein is a transgender and nonbinary author, performer, playwright, and activist whose books and performances became important parts of trans and queer cultural history. Their work helped bring questions about gender beyond medical systems and academic theory, asking readers to reconsider the expectation that everyone must fit neatly into
American writers
Luther Standing Bear was an Oglala Lakota writer, interpreter, actor, lecturer, and public advocate who explained Native life and criticized federal policies from a Native point of view. Through books, public appearances, and film work, he challenged the idea that Indigenous people belonged only to the past and opposed efforts
American writers
Norris Church Mailer was an American writer, artist, and former model, born Barbara Jean Davis in Atkins, Arkansas. She is best known in many search results as Norman Mailer’s sixth and final wife, but she also published a novel and two memoirs and had a public identity as Norris
Fashion designers
Gloria Vanderbilt was an American artist, author, actor and fashion namesake whose life made her famous far beyond her inherited wealth. Born into the Vanderbilt family, she became nationally known as a child during a 1934 custody trial, then built public careers in art, writing, acting and licensed fashion. She
American writers
Sidney Sheldon was an American writer best known for blockbuster novels such as Master of the Game and If Tomorrow Comes, but he also had a major career on Broadway, in Hollywood, and on television. He won an Academy Award for writing The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, created or