The Calendar of Literary Facts contains more than 6,500 events in literary history.
August 9 Literary Facts
Izaak Walton is born
Explore: Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
John Dryden is born
Explore: Absalom and Achitophel, Mac Flecknoe, John Dryden
Daniel Keyes is born
Explore: Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, The "Algernon-Gordon Effect" and its impact on characters and their reactions in "Flowers for Algernon."
American athlete Jesse Owens, a black man, wins four gold medals at the summer Olympic games in Berlin—a bitter pill for Adolf Hitler, who had earlier boasted of the inherent superiority of the “Aryan race”
Explore: Adolf Hitler
Jonathan Kellerman is born
Joe Orton dies
Explore: Entertaining Mr. Sloane, What the Butler Saw, Joe Orton
José Lezama Lima dies
Explore: Paradiso, José Lezama Lima
James Gould Cozzens dies
Explore: By Love Possessed, James Gould Cozzens