August 16: Peggy Marsh, better known as Margaret Mitchell, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gone With The Wind dies on this day in 1949 after she crossed Peachtree Road in her hometown of Atlanta and is hit by a taxi driver. Fans gather at the hospital and calls come in from around the country and world seeking info on her status. Her funeral is so massive that passes are issued for attendees. When I was in Atlanta recently, heard that the driver was so despised that he had to move away.

August 17: Journalists John Reed and Louise Bryant set sail for Russia on this day in 1917 to report on the revolution.

August 18: Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita published in the United States on this day in 1958.

August 19: The Polish-born Joseph Conrad becomes, on this day in 1866, an official British subject.

August 20: In 1904, the Abbey Theatre — Amhraclann Na Mainistrich — is founded in Dublin by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory.

August 21: At the funeral for Honore de Balzac on this day in 1850, Victor Hugo delivers the oration for his fellow writer: “Monsieur de Balzac was one of the first among the greatest.”

August 22: Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury is born on this day in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois.

August 23: Honore de Balzac‘s play Mercadet le Faiseur opens on this day in 1851, one year and five days after he died.

August 24: The first printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed on this day in 1456.