Authors Who Died in January
Authors who died in January
–1st–
2019 – Judy Turner (writing as Katie Flynn & Judith Saxton), author of ‘Christmas at Tuppenny Corner‘ was born in Norwich, Norfolk, UK in 1936. She died aged 82 in the UK.
2020 – Alexander Frater, author of ‘Tales from the Torrid Zone‘ was born in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 3rd January 1937. He died aged 82 several years after suffering a stroke.
2024 – Jack O’Connell, author of ‘The Skin Palace‘ was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA on 25th December 1959. He died aged 64 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
2024 – James Herbert Brennan, author of ‘Faerie Wars‘ was born in Gilford, Northern Ireland on 5th July 1940. He died aged 83 in Tullow, County Carlow, Ireland.
–2nd–
2024 – Brian Lumley, author of ‘Psychomech‘ was born in County Durham, England, UK on 2nd December 1937. He died aged 86.
–4th–
1965 – T.S. Eliot, author of ‘The Waste Land and Other Poems‘ was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on 26th September 1888. He died aged 76 from emphysema at his home in Kensington, London, UK.
2016 – Joseph P Ritz, author of ‘The Despised Poor‘ was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 6th November 1929. He died aged 86 in Hamburg, New York, USA.
2020 – Guy Arnold, author of ‘Africa: A Modern History‘ was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK on 6th May 1932. He died aged 87 in Hammersmith, London, UK.
2023 – Fay Weldon, author of ‘Rhode Island Blues‘ was born in Birmingham, England, UK on 22nd September 1931. She died aged 91 in Northampton, England, UK.
2024 – Fred Chappell, author of ‘The Inkling‘ was born in Canton, North Carolina, USA on 28th May 1936. He died aged 87 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
–5th–
2017 – Paul Goble, author of ‘The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses‘ was born in Haslemere, England, UK on 27th September 1933. He died aged 83 from Parkinson’s disease in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA.
–6th–
2022 – Kass Fleisher, author of ‘Dead Woman Hollow‘ was born in Wilmington, Delaware, USA on 21st October 1959. She died aged 63 in Normal, Illinois, USA.
2024 – Robie Harris, author of ‘It’s Perfectly Normal‘ was born in Buffalo, New York, USA on 3rd April 1940. She died aged 83 in New York City, USA.
–7th–
2020 – Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of ‘Prozac Nation‘ was born in New York, New York, USA, on 31st July 1967. She died aged 52 from from leptomeningeal disease as a complication of metastasized breast cancer in New York City, USA.
2023 – Russell Banks, author of ‘The Darling‘ was born in Newton, Massachusetts, USA on 28th March 1940. He died aged 82 from cancer in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.
–8th–
2018 – Tricia Walker, author of ‘Benedict’s Brother‘ was born in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, UK on 8th February 1964. She died aged 53 from a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma in the UK.
2023 – Georgina Hammick, author of ‘Benedict’s Brother‘ was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, UK on 29th May 1939. She died aged 83 in London, UK.
–9th–
2020 – Walter J. Boyne, author of ‘Fly Past, Fly Present‘ was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, USA on 2nd February 1929. He died aged 90 in Calverton, Maryland, USA.
2020 – Chukwuemeka Ike, author of ‘Sunset at Dawn‘ was born in Anambra, Nigeria on 28th April 1931. He died aged 88 in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, Nigeria.
–10th–
1951 – Sinclair Lewis (Harry Sinclair Lewis), author of ‘Main Street‘ was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, USA on 7th February 1885. He died aged 65 from advanced alcoholism in Rome, Italy. His remains were buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
–11th–
1928 – Thomas Hardy, author of ‘Far From the Madding Crowd‘ was born in Stinsford, Dorset, UK on 2nd June 1840. He died aged 87 from cardiac syncope in Dorchester, Dorset, UK. His heart is buried with his first wife Emma and his ashes buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.
–12th–
1976 – Agatha Christie, author of ‘Murder on the Orient Express‘ was born in Torquay, UK on 15th September 1890. She died aged 85 from natural causes in Winterbrook, Oxfordshire, UK. She is buried at St Mary’s, Cholsey, UK.
2017 – William Peter Blatty, author of ‘The Exorcist‘ who was born in New York on 7th January 1928. He died aged 89 in hospital from multiple myeloma in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
–13th–
1941 – James Joyce, author of ‘Dubliners‘ was born in Rathgar, Republic of Ireland on 2nd February 1882. He died aged 58 in Zürich, Switzerland after undergoing surgery for a perforated ulcer on the 11th January. The following day he fell into a coma, awoke briefly and asked for his wife, Nora and son, Giorgio, to be called to the hospital. Unfortunately he died before they got there.
–14th–
1898 – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson AKA Lewis Carroll, author of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland‘ was born in Daresbury, Cheshire, UK on 27th January 1832. He died aged 65 from Pneumonia in Guildford, Surrey, UK. He is buried at Mount Cemetery in Guildford, UK.
2017 – Babette Cole, author of ‘Prince Cinders‘ was born in Jersey on 10th September 1950. She died aged 66 in Devon, UK
2018 – Samuel Agnew Schreiner Jr, author of ‘The Possessors and the Possessed‘ was born in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA on 6th June 1921. He died aged 96 at his home in Darien, Connecticut, USA.
2022 – John David Wolverton, author of ‘Worldbinder’ was born in Springfield, Oregon, USA on 28th May 1957. He died aged 64 from a fall in St. George, Utah, USA.
–15th-
2017 – Vicki Lee Lansky (nee Rogosin), author of ‘Feed Me, I’m Yours‘ was born in Louisville, Kentucky, USA on 6th January 1942. She died aged 75 from cirrhosis in Plymouth, Minnesota, USA.
2023 – Gordana Kuić (nee Rogosin), author of ‘Ghosts over the Balkans‘ was born in Belgrade, German-occupied Serbia 29th August 1942. She died aged 80.
–16th–
1945 – Gilbert Patten, author of ‘Frank Merriwell Series‘ was born in Corinna, Maine, USA on 25th October 1866 (pen name Burt L. Standish). He died in his sleep aged 78 in Vista, California, USA.
2024 – José Agustín, author of ‘Armablanca‘ was born in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico on 19th August 1944. He died aged 78 in Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico.
–17th–
2019 – Sam Savage, author of ‘The Way of the Dog‘ was born in Camden, South Carolina, USA on 9th November 1940. He died aged 78 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
2019 – Mary Oliver, author of ‘Wild Geese‘ was born in Maple Heights, Ohio, USA on 10th September 1935. She died aged 83 from lymphoma in Hobe Sound, Florida, USA.
–18th–
1936 – Rudyard Kipling, author of ‘Plain Tales from the Hills‘ was born in Mumbai, India on 30th December 1965. He died aged 70 from perforated duodenal ulcerin London, UK. His ashes were interred at Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.
2018 – Nancy Richler, author of ‘Throwaway Angels‘ was born in Montreal, Canada on 16th May 1967. She died of cancer aged 60 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
2023 – Eileen Ramsay, author of ‘The Mysterious Marquis‘ was born in Ayrshire, Scotland on 16th December 1940. She died aged 82 from pneumonia.
–19th–
2017 – Hilary Bailey, author of ‘Frankenstein’s Bride‘ was born in the UK on 19th September 1936. She died aged 79 in London, UK.
2021 – Diana O’Hehir, author of ‘Murder Never Forgets‘ was born in Lexington, Virginia, USA on 23rd May 1922. She died aged 98 in San Francisco, California, USA.
–20th–
2017 – Harry J. Middleton, author of ‘Lady Bird Johnson: A Life Well Lived‘ was born in Centerville, Iowa, USA on 24th October 1921. He died aged 95 in Austin, Texas, USA.
2020 – Steph Bowe, author of ‘Night Swimming‘ was born in Melbourne, Australia. She died aged 25 from T-lymphoblastic lymphoma in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
2023 – Ted Bell, author of ‘Dragonfire‘ was born in Tampa, Florida, USA on 3rd July 1946. He died aged 76 from an intracerebral haemorrhage in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
2024 – Anezi Okoro, author of ‘The Village School‘ was born in Arondizuogu, Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria on 17th May 1929. He died aged 94 in Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.
2024 – Anne Edwards, author of ‘The Survivors‘ was born in Port Chester, New York, USA on 20th August 1927. She died aged 96 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
–21st–
1950 – George Orwell, author of ‘1984‘ was born in Motihari, India on 25th June 1903. He died aged 46 in London, UK. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1947 and died from a burst artery in his lungs.
2017 – Emma Tennant, (also known as Catherine Aydy) author of ‘Sisters and Strangers‘ was born in London, UK on 20th October 1937. She died from posterior cortical atrophy, a form of Alzheimer’s disease aged 79 in London, UK.
2020 – Paul Addison, author of ‘The Road to 1945‘ was born in Whittington, England, UK on 3rd May 1943. He died 76 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
–23rd–
2017 – Douglas Edward Reeman, author of ‘The Destroyers‘ was born in Thames Ditton, UK on 15th October 1924. He died aged 92 in Cobham, Surrey, UK.
–24th–
2018 – Jack Ketchum, author of ‘Road Kill‘ was born in Livingston, New Jersey, USA on 10th November 1946. He died of cancer aged 71 in New York City, New York, USA.
2024 – N. Scott Momaday, author of ‘The Ancient Child‘ was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, USA on 27th February 1934. He died at home aged 89 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
–25th–
2017 – Charles Reis Felix, author of ‘Crossing the Sauer‘ was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA on 29th April 1923. He died aged 93 in Palo Alto, California, USA.
2017 – Harry Matthews, author of ‘The Solitary Twin‘ was born in New York City, New York, USA on 14th February 1930. He died from natural causes aged 86 in Key West, Florida, USA.
–27th–
2010 – Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger, author of ‘The Catcher in the Rye‘ was born in Manhattan, New York, USA on 1st January 1919. He died aged 91 from natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire, USA.
–28th–
2023 – Landon Pearson, author of ‘Letters from Moscow‘ was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 16th November 1930. She died aged 92 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
–29th–
2016 – Albert Low, author of ‘The Iron Cow of Zen‘ was born in London, UK on 16th December 1928. He died aged 87 in Montreal, Canada.
2017 – Howard Frank Mosher, author of ‘Northern Boarders‘ was born in the Catskill Mountains, New York USA on 15th June 1942. He died aged 74 in Irasburg, Vermont, USA.
2019 – Jan Wahl, author of ‘Mrs. Owl and Mr. Pig‘ was born in Columbus, Ohio, USA on 1st April 1931. He died aged 87 in Toledo, Ohio, USA.
–30th–
2007 – Sidney Sheldon (Sidney Schechtel), author of ‘Master of the Game‘ was born in Chicago, Illinois on 11th February 1917. He died aged 89 from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, California, USA.
2017 – Dore Ashton, author of ‘Noguchi East and West‘ was born in Newark, New Jersey, USA on 21st May 1928. She died aged 88 in the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.
2024 – Ellen Gilchrist, author of ‘The Annunciation‘ was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA on 20th February 1935. She died from breast cancer at home aged 88 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, USA.
–31st–
1956 – A.A. Milne, author of ‘Winnie-the-Pooh‘ was born in Hampstead, London, UK on 18th January 1882. He died aged 74 at his home in Hartfield, East Sussex, UK.
2020 – Mary Higgins Clark, author of ‘As Time Goes By‘ was born in The Bronx, New York, USA on 24th December 1927. She died in Naples, Florida, USA.
