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Literature & Drama

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Role: Any Novelist 46 Poet 14 Author 10 Playwright 7 Activist 4 Journalist 4
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Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882Literature & DramaEssayist and philosopher who led the Transcendentalist movement and shaped American intellectual thought.Dr. Seuss 1904–1991Literature & DramaAuthor and illustrator whose rhythmic books transformed American children’s reading and publishing.Maya Angelou 1928–2014Literature & DramaPoet and memoirist whose I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings broke new ground in autobiographical writing.James Baldwin 1924–1987Literature & DramaEssayist and novelist whose searing explorations of race, sexuality, and identity remain profoundly relevant.Isaac Asimov 1920–1992Literature & DramaWriter whose science fiction and popular science helped shape public imagination about robots, technology, and the future.Vladimir Nabokov 1899–1977Literature & DramaAuthor of Lolita, Pale Fire and Speak, MemoryWashington Irving 1783–1859Literature & DramaEarly American storyteller whose Sketch Book gave the country Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow.Richard Wright 1908–1960Literature & DramaNovelist whose works exposed the psychological and structural violence of racism and urban poverty in America.David Foster Wallace 1962–2008Literature & DramaNovelist and essayist whose Infinite Jest became a defining postmodern American novel.Studs Terkel 1912–2008Literature & DramaOral historian and Chicago broadcaster who recorded working Americans in book-length interview collections.