Birthdays: Hermann Hesse (1877), Jean Craighead George (1919), Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923), Wislawa Szymborska (1923), Mark Billingham (1961), Jack Gantos (1951), Elizabeth Graver (1964), Darren Shan (1972), Matthew Reilly (1974), Tao Lin (1983)

Hermann Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his writings. Best known for his books “Steppenwolf” and “Siddhartha”

Jean George is best known for her work “My Side of the Mountain”

Wislawa Szymborska won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature for his poetry.

Jack Gantos is best known for creating the character of “Rotten Ralph”

Quote: “Unless someone has broken all your fingers there’s nothing stopping you writing. It won’t always be any good of course, but writers have good days and bad days, same as anyone else.” – Mark Billingham

Tip: Three act structure is the most common storytelling device. In Act I, the main character’s life is thrown out of whack. In Act II, he tries to solve the problem, but can’t. Act III, he uses knowledge gained in II and formulates a new plan.

Jumpstart: You have just learned that you are the heir to a kingdom – a very small one with rich resources but surrounded by larger, not so nice ones. Do you take the throne? Why or why not?