writer and novelist September 28 – James Berry (died 2017), Jamaican-born poet October 9 – Jane Cooper (died 2007), American poet October 20 – Robert Peters (died 2014), American poet, critic, scholar, playwright and editor October 29 – Zbigniew Herbert (died 1998), Polish poet, essayist, moralist and member of the Polish resistance during World War II; perhaps the most famous and most translated of Polish writers November 25 – Takaaki Yoshimoto 吉本隆明, also known as "Ryūmei Yoshimoto" (died 2012), Japanese poet, literary critic and philosopher; father of the writer Banana Yoshimoto and cartoonist Haruno Yoiko (surname: Yoshimoto) November 28 – Dennis Brutus (died 2009), South African poet and anti-Apartheid activist, imprisoned in the cell next to Nelson Mandela's on Robben Island from 1963 to 1965; earns the Lifetime Honorary Award by the South African Department of Arts and Culture for lifelong dedication to African and world poetry and literary arts December 20 – Friederike Mayröcker, Austrian poet December 21 – Alphonse Allain (died 2022), French Norman language poet December 24 – Nissim Ezekiel (died 2004), Indian poet, playwright and art critic writing in English . Also: Elizabeth Bartlett (died 2008), English poet Matthew Mead (died 2009), English poet and editor Deaths Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: January 16 – Kumaran Asan, 50 (born 1873), Indian, Malayalam-language poet May 4 – Edith Nesbit, 65 (born 1858), English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name "E. Nesbit" July 19 – Kingsley Fairbridge, 39 (born 1885), South African editor of a poetry anthology and humanitarian August 25 – Velma Caldwell Melville, 66 (born 1858), American editor and writer December 8 – Bochō Yamamura 山村 暮鳥, 40 (born 1884), Japanese vagabond Christian preacher who gained attention as a writer of tales and songs for children and as a poet (surname: Bochō) December 15 – William Herbert Carruth, 65 (born 1859), American poet December 23 – Thomas William Hodgson Crosland, 59? (born 1865?), English poet See also Poetry List of poetry awards List of years in poetry New Objectivity in German literature and art Notes 20th-century poetry Poetry