Literary Facts - April 12
1861: The War between the States (commonly called the American Civil War), pitting the Northern union of states against the Southern Confederacy, begins. (Explore: How Did The American Civil War Begin And How Did It End?)
1899: Henri Becque dies. (Explore: Henri Becque)
1939: Alan Ayckbourn is born. (Explore: A Chorus of Disapproval, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn)
1949: Scott Turow is born. (Explore: The Burden of Proof, One L, Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow)
1952: Gary Soto is born. (Explore: Buried Onions, Living up the Street, Oranges, Gary Soto, What is the rite of passage in the poem "Oranges" by Gary Soto?)
1957: Tama Janowitz is born. (Explore: Tama Janowitz, Slaves of New York, A Cannibal in Manhattan, By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee)
1988: Alan Paton dies. (Explore: Cry, the Beloved Country, Too Late the Phalarope, Alan Paton, Ha'penny, What does the waste land symbolize in Alan Paton's short story "The Waste...)
1991: James Schuyler dies. (Explore: James Schuyler, The Morning of the Poem, Sorting, Wrapping, Packing, Stuffing)
1996: Erma Bombeck dies. (Explore: I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise, Family: The Ties That Bind . . . and Gag!)