drama critic, 70 (born 1948) November 24 – Ikeogu Oke, Nigerian poet and writer of children's literature who received the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature, 51 (born 1967) November 25 – Paul Ellingworth, Scottish biblical scholar and translator, 87 (born 1931) Philip Levine, American classicist, 96 (born 1922) Claude Péloquin, Québécois poet, 76 (born 1942) November 26 – Luc Deflo, Belgian writer, 60 (born 1958) Iravatham Mahadevan, Indian epigraphist noted for his successful decipherment of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and expertise on Indus Valley civilisation epigraphy, 88 (born 1930) Leo P. Ribuffo, American historian, 72–73 (born 1945) Goran Stefanovski, Macedonian playwright, 66 (born 1952) Barbara Brooks Wallace, American writer of children's literature, 95 (born 1922) November 28 – Thomas J. J. Altizer, American radical theologian noted for his contribution to the short-lived "God is dead" cultural moment experienced by that country, 91 (born 1927) Blaže Ristovski, Macedonian folklorist, historian, linguist and member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 87 (born 1931) Harry Leslie Smith, English memoirist, 95 (born 1923) November 29 – Elisa Brune, Belgian writer, 52 (born 1966) Altaf Fatima, Pakistani Urdu novelist and short story writer, 91 (born 1927) Miguel Romero Esteo, Spanish professor and playwright, 88 (born 1930) November 30 – Attash Durrani, Pakistani linguist and scholar noted for his work on Urdu language and literature, 66 (born 1952) December 1 Ivan Katardžiev, Macedonian historian, 92 (born 1926) Pauls Putniņš, Latvian playwright, journalist and politician, 81 (born 1937) December 2 – Séry Bailly, Ivorian writer and politician, 70 (born 1948) December 3 Andrei Bitov, Russian novelist and short story writer of Circassian ancestry, 81 (born 1937) Justin Cartwright , South African-born British Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist, 75 (born 1943) Hans-Günther Thalheim, German linguist and writer noted for work on the eighteenth century (especially the Sturm und Drang phase of the German classicist movement; Schiller; Winckelmann; Goethe Kleist), 94 (born 1924) December 4 – Nh. Dini, Indonesian feminist novelist, 82 (born 1936) December 5 – Julia Vinograd, American street poet, graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Berkeley's unofficial poet laureate, 74 (born 1943) December 6 Kuslan Budiman, Indonesian poet and fiction writer, 83 (born 1935) Joseph Joffo, French novelist noted for a widely translated memoir, A Bag of Marbles, 87 (born 1931) Murray Murphey, American historian, philosopher and advocate of social sciences, 90 (born 1928) December 8 – Jamal Nebez, Iraqi Kurdish linguist, mathematician and translator of Gogol