A week of literary celebration: LitBash 7

Meet some of the world’s most fascinating writers and their works. A weekly celebration of literary anniversaries, an opportunity to read a book! Read and perhaps you'll discover a fascinating world, as Italo Calvino said: "Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be."

Born this week:

Norman Mailer, USA
"With the pride of an artist, you must blow against the walls of every power that exists, the small trumpet of your defiance."

Oe Kenzaburo, Japan
"The fundamental style of my writing has been to start from my personal matters and then to link it up with society, the state and the world."

James Joyce, Ireland
"The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole Life to reading my works."

Ayn Rand, Russia / USA
"There is a stage of worship which makes the worshipper himself an object of reverence."

Gertrude Stein, USA
"We are always the same age inside."

James Michener, USA
"The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination."

Simone Weil, France
"Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely upon force in the background, or else it will be laughed at."

Ugo Betti, Italy
"Memories are like stones, time and distance erode them like acid."

William Burroughs, USA
"Cut word lines — Cut music lines — Smash the control images — Smash the control machine — Burn the books — Kill the priests — Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, Germany
Author of Das Boot.

Died this week:

John Galsworthy, Great Britain
"The world's a fine place for those who go out to take it; there's lots of unknown stuff' in it yet."

Jean Giraudoux, France
"To win a woman in the first place one must please her, then undress her, and then somehow get her clothes back on her. Finally, so she will allow you to leave her, you've got to annoy her."

A.A. Milne, Great Britain
"It is hard to be brave," said Piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal."

Mary Shelley, Great Britain
"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos"

Alistair Maclean, Scotland
Author of popular thrillers.

Bohumil Hrabal, Czech
"No book worth its salt is meant to put you to sleep, its meant to make you jump out of your bed in your underwear and run and beat the author's brains out."

Carlo Goldoni, Italy
"Each day a day goes by."