List of English Writers - B

B

• Charles Babbage (1791–1871), polymath
• Gervase Babington (1549/50–1610), theologian and bishop
• Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941), writer and army officer, Scouting for Boys
• Edmund Backhouse (1873–1944), orientalist and autobiographer
• Anne Bacon (c. 1528–1610), translator and letter-writer
• Francis Bacon (1561–1626), essayist, New Atlantis
• Phanuel Bacon (1699–1783), playwright and poet
• John F. Baddeley (1854–1940), travel writer and journalist
• Robert Bage (1730–1801), novelist and radical, Hermsprong: or, Man As He Is Not
• Walter Bagehot (1826–1877), economist and essayist
• Enid Bagnold (1889–1981), novelist and playwright, National Velvet
• Richard Bagot (1860–1921), novelist and essayist
• David Bailey (born c. 1970s), story writer and editor
• H. C. Bailey (1878–1961), novelist
• Hilary Bailey (born 1936), biographer and editor
• Nathan Bailey (died 1742), philologist, An Universal Etymological English Dictionary
• Paul Bailey (born 1937), novelist and dramatist
• Philip James Bailey (1816–1902), poet
• Samuel Bailey (1791–1870), philosopher and economist
• Beryl Bainbridge (born 1932), novelist
• Denys Val Baker (1917–1984), novelist and story writer
• Henry Baker (1698–1774), naturalist and poet
• Samuel Baker (1821–1893), writer and explorer
• Rajeev Balasubramanyam (born 1974), novelist
• Nigel Balchin (1908–1970), novelist and screenwriter
• John Bale (1495–1563), playwright and bishop
• J. G. Ballard (1930–2009), novelist
• Samuel Bamford (1788–1872), writer and Lancashire dialect poet
• John Codrington Bampfylde (1764–1796/7), poet
• Richard Bancroft (1544–1610), controversialist, AV translator and archbishop
• Isabella Banks (1821–1897), novelist and poet
• Lynne Reid Banks (born 1929), novelist
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), poet, essayist and children's writer
• W. N. P. Barbellion (real name Bruce Frederick Cummings, 1889–1919), diarist
• Richard Barber (born 1941), historian
• Alexander Barclay (c. 1476–1552), poet and translator
• Florence L. Barclay (1862–1921), novelist
• James Barclay (born 1965), novelist
• John Baret (died c. 1580), lexicographer
• Richard Harris Barham (wrote as Thomas Ingoldsby, 1788–1845), novelist and poet, The Ingoldsby Legends
• Maurice Baring (1874–1945), playwright, novelist and poet
• Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), novelist, cleric and hymn writer, Onward, Christian Soldiers
• A. L. Barker (1918–2002), novelist
• Cicely Mary Barker (1895–1973), children's and religious writer and illustrator
• Elspeth Barker (born 1940), novelist
• George Granville Barker (1913–1991), poet and novelist
• Jane Barker (1652–1732), poet and novelist
• Mary Anne Barker (1831–1911), writer, journalist and poet
• Nicola Barker (born 1966), novelist
• Pat Barker (born 1943), novelist, the Regeneration Trilogy
• Raffaella Barker (born 1964), novelist and journalist
• George Barlow (wrote as James Hinton, 1837–1913/14), poet
• William Barlow (died 1613), scholar, AV translator and bishop
• Mordaunt Roger Barnard (1828–1906), translator and cleric
• Kitty Barne (1883–1961), children's writer, Visitors from London
• Barnabe Barnes (c. 1568 or 1569–1609), poet and playwright
• Julian Barnes (born 1946), novelist, Flaubert's Parrot
• William Barnes (1801–1886), Dorset dialect poet and philologist
• Correlli Barnett (born 1927), military and economic historian
• Richard Barnfield (1574–1620), poet
• Alexander Baron (1917–1999), novelist and screenwriter
• Geoffrey Barraclough (1908–1984), historian
• John Barret (1631–1713), Presbyterian minister and writer on religion
• Leslie Barringer (1895–1968), editor and novelist
• Isaac Barrow (1630–1677), scholar and cleric
• John Barrow (fl. 1735–1774), lexicographer, mathematician and naval historian
• William Barrow (1754–1836), religious writer and cleric
• Stan Barstow (born 1928), novelist and radio dramatist, A Kind of Loving
• William Bartholomew (1793–1867), librettist, translator and composer
• Mike Bartlett (born 1980), playwright and director
• Bernard Barton (1784–1849), poet and Quaker
• Henry Howarth Bashford (1880–1961), novelist and physician, Augustus Carp, Esq.
• William Basse (c. 1583–1653/4), poet
• Jonathan Bate (born 1958), biographer and editor
• H. E. Bates (1905–1974), novelist, The Darling Buds of May
• Henry Walter Bates (1825–1892), naturalist and explorer
• Ralph Bates (1899–2000), novelist
• Elizabeth Bath (1772–1856), poet
• Richard Baxter (1615–1691), poet, hymn writer and theologian
• Stephen Baxter (born 1957), novelist
• F. W. N. Bayley (1808–1853), miscellanist
• John Bayley (born 1925), critic and novelist
• Peter Bayley (c. 1778–1883), poet and playwright
• Ada Ellen Bayly (pen name Edna Lyall, 1857–1903), novelist
• Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1830), poet and playwright
• John Beadle (died 1667), diarist and cleric
• Richard Bean (born 1956), playwright
• Francis Beaumont, (1584–1616), playwright
• John Beaumont (1583–1627), poet
• Joseph Beaumont (1616–1699), poet and cleric
• Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), writer and illustrator
• Laura Beatty (born c. 1970s), biographer and novelist
• Samuel Beazley (1786–1851), novelist, playwright and architect
• William Beckford (1760–1844), novelist and patron, Vathek
• Lillian Beckwith (born Lillian Comber, 1916–2004), novelist and memoirist
• Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849), poet
• William Bedwell (1561–1632), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Henry Charles Beeching (1859–1919), poet and anthologist
• Patricia Beer (1919–1999), poet and critic
• Constance Beerbohm (1811–1892), writer
• Julius Beerbohm (1854–1906), travel writer and explorer
• Max Beerbohm (1872–1956), novelist, writer and caricaturist, Zuleika Dobson
• Alfred Beesley (1800–1847), poet and topographer
• Mrs Beeton (born Isabella Mary Mayson, 1836–1865), writer on cookery and housekeeping Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
• Antony Beevor (born 1946), historian and novelist, Stalingrad
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689), novelist and playwright
• Adrian Bell (1901–1980), countryside writer and journalist
• Clive Bell (1881–1964), art critic
• Florence Bell (1851–1930), playwright and editor
• Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), writer and traveller
• Josephine Bell (pen name also David Wintringham, 1897–1987), novelist
• Julian Bell (1908–1937), poet
• Mary Hayley Bell (1911–2005), novelist, playwright and actress
• Thomas Bell (1792–1880), zoologist, surgeon and writer
• Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953), writer and poet
• Thomas Belt (1832–1878), naturalist and geologist
• Elizabeth Benger (1775–1827), poet, novelist and biographer
• Edward Benlowes (1603–1676), poet
• Alan Bennett (born 1934), playwright and broadcaster, The Madness of George III
• Anna Maria Bennett (c. 1760–1808), novelist
• Arnold Bennett (1867–1931), novelist, The Clayhanger Family
• Edwin Keppel Bennett (pen name Francis Bennett, 1887–1958), writer, poet and scholar
• A. C. Benson (1862–1925), poet and diarist, "Land of Hope and Glory"
• E. F. Benson (1867–1940), novelist and story writer, the Mapp and Lucia series.
• Peter Benson (born 1956), novelist
• Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914), novelist, religious writer and cleric
• Stella Benson (1892–1933), novelist, poet and travel writer
• George Bentham (1800–1884), botanist
• Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), philosopher
• Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956), novelist, humorist and comic poet, the clerihew
• Elizabeth Bentley (1767–1839), poet
• Nicolas Bentley (1907–1978), writer and illustrator
• Phyllis Bentley (1894–1977), novelist and biographer
• Richard Bentley (1662–1742), theologian and poet
• Edward Berdoe (1836–1916), critic, novelist and physician
• Elisabeth Beresford (born 1928), children's writer, the Wombles
• J. D. Beresford (1873–1947), novelist, The Hampdenshire Wonder
• James Beresford (1764–1840), satirist, translator and cleric
• Leila Berg (1917–2012), children's writer
• John Berger (born 1926), novelist, G.
• Reginald Berkeley (1890–1935), playwright, screenwriter and politician
• John Berkenhout (1726–1791), naturalist
• Steven Berkoff (born 1937), playwright and actor
• William Bayle Bernard (1807–1875), playwright, critic and novelist
• John Bourchier Berners (1467–1533), translator and statesman
• Juliana Berners or Bernes, (born c. 1388), writer on heraldry, hawking and hunting, The Boke of Saint Albans
• Elizabeth Berridge (1919–2009), English novelist
• Mary Berry (1763–1852), writer, editor and correspondent
• Mary Berry (born 1935), cookery writer
• Charles Bertram (1723–1765), literary forger
• Annie Besant (1847–1933), writer and campaigner
• Walter Besant (1836–1901), novelist and historian
• Charles Best (1570–1627), poet
• Alfred Bestall (1892–1986), children's writer and illustrator, Rupert Bear
• Henry Digby Beste (1768–1836), religious writer
• Matilda Betham-Edwards (1836–1919), novelist, poet and travel writer
• John Betjeman (1906–1984), Poet Laureate
• Thomas Betterton (1635–1710), playwright and actor
• Edwyn Bevan (1870–1943), philosopher and historian
• Elizabeth Bibesco (1897–1945), novelist and poet
• Tessa Biddington (born 1954), poet
• John Stanyan Bigg (1828–1865), poet
• Mark Billingham (born 1961), novelist
• Thomas Bilson(1547–1616), theologian, AV translator and bishop
• Andrew Bing (1574–1652), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Laurence Binyon (1869–1943), poet and art historian
• T. J. Binyon (1936–2004), novelist, translator and biographer
• Thomas Birch (1705–1766), historian
• Caroline Bird (born 1986), poet and playwright
• Isabella Bird (1831–1904), travel writer and naturalist
• Dea Birkett (born 1958), writer
• John Birtwhistle (born 1947), poet and librettist
• Samuel Bishop (1731–1795), poet and essayist
• Robert Black (1829–1915), fiction writer, translator and journalist
• John Blackburn (born 1923), novelist
• Thomas Blackburn (1916–1977), poet
• Malorie Blackman (born 1962), children's writer and screenwriter, the Noughts and Crosses series
• R. D. Blackmore (1825–1900), novelist, Lorna Doone
• Richard Blackmore (1654–1729), poet and religious writer
• William Blackstone (1723–1780), legal writer, jurist and judge, Commentaries on the Laws of England
• Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951), novelist and short story writer
• Caroline Blackwood (1931–1996), novelist and critic
• Helen Blackwood, Lady Dufferin (1807–1867), poet and songwriter
• Max Blagg (born c. 1949), poet, writer and performer
• Quentin Blake (born 1932), children's writer and illustrator
• William Blake (1757–1827), poet and artist, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
• Helen Blakeman (born 1971), playwright and screenwriter
• Susanna Blamire (1747–1794), poet
• Edward Blanchard (1820–1899), playwright and songwriter
• Samuel Laman Blanchard (1804–1845), writer, journalist and poet
• Robert Blatchford (pen name Nunquam, 1851–1943), journalist, writer and campaigner
• Nicholas Blincoe (born 1965), novelist and screenwriter
• Mathilde Blind (1841–1896), poet and biographer
• Edward Blishen (1920–1996), writer and broadcaster
• Walter Blith (1605–1654), writer on husbandry
• Robert Bloomfield (1766–1823), poet
• Charles Blount (1654–1693), controversialist
• Evelyn, Princess Blücher (1876–1960), diarist and memoirist
• Nicholas Blundell (1669–1737), diarist
• Edmund Blunden (1896–1974), poet, author and critic
• Anthony Blunt (1907–1983), art historian and spy
• Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), poet and author
• Ronald Blythe (born 1922), writer and editor,
• Enid Blyton (1897–1968), children's writer, Noddy
• James Boaden (1762–1839), biographer, playwright and journalist
• Frederick S. Boas (1862–1957), literary historian
• John Ernest Bode (1816–1874), poet, hymn writer and cleric
• John Bodenham (1569–1610), anthologist
• Barbara Bodichon (1827–1891), educationalist and feminist
• John Bois (1560–1643), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Osbern Bokenam (c. 1393 – c. 1463), literary historian and cleric
• Robert Bolt (1924–1995), dramatist and screenwriter, A Man For All Seasons
• Michael Bond (born 1926), children's writer, Paddington Bear series
• Elizabeth Bonhôte (1744–1818), novelist, Bungay Castle
• Christopher Booker (born 1937), writer and journalist
• George Boole (1815–1864), mathematician and logician, The Laws of Thought
• Mary Everest Boole (1832–1916), educational writer on mathematics
• Barton Booth (1681–1733), actor and poet
• Charles Booth (1840–1916), social researcher, Life and Labour of the People in London
• Martin Booth (1944–2004), novelist, poet and editor
• Stephen Booth (born 1952), novelist
• Brooke Boothby (1744–1824), scholar and poet
• Frances Boothby (fl. 1669–70), playwright
• Basil Boothroyd (1910–1988), writer and humorist
• George Borrow (1803–1881), novelist and travel writer, Romany Rye
• Lucy M. Boston (1892–1990), children's writer, Green Knowe series
• Clifford Edmund Bosworth (born 1928), historian and Arabist
• Joseph Bosworth (1789–1876), lexicographer and scholar of Anglo-Saxon
• Phyllis Bottome (1884–1963), novelist and psychoanalyst
• Gordon Bottomley (1874–1948), poet and dramatist
• Ronald Bottrall (1906–1989), poet and academic
• Marjorie Boulton (born 1924), writer and Esperantist
• Francis William Bourdillon (1852–1921), poet
• Thomas Edward Bowdich (1791–1824), traveller and writer
• Henrietta Maria Bowdler ("Harriet", 1750–1830), religious writer, editor and expurgator
• Jane Bowdler (1743–1784), poet and essayist
• John Bowdler (1746–1823), religious writer and pamphleteer
• John Bowdler (1783–1815), writer and poet
• Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), writer and expurgator
• Thomas Bowdler 1782–1856), religious writer and cleric
• Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973), novelist and story writer
• John Griffith Bowen (born 1924), novelist and screenwriter, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates TV series, with David Cook
• Marjorie Bowen (real name Gabrielle Margaret Vere Long, 1885–1952), novelist and writer
• Emily Bowes (1806–1857), religious poet and artist
• Mary Bowes (1749–1800), playwright and botanist
• Tim Bowler (born c. 1967), children's writer
• William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), poet and critic
• Maurice Bowra (1898–1971), scholar and wit
• Frank Cottrell Boyce (born 1959), children's writer and screenwriter, Millions
• William Binnington Boyce (1804–1889), philologist, theologian and Methodist cleric
• Abel Boyer (c. 1667–1729), journalist, miscellanist and translator
• Charles Boyle (1674–1731), writer and playwright
• Charles Boyle (born 1951), poet
• John Boyle (1707–1762), writer and translator
• Roger Boyle (1621–1679), playwright and statesman
• Ernest Franklin Bozman (1895–1968), writer and editor
• Michael Bracewell (born 1958), novelist and writer on popular culture
• Alison Brackenbury (born 1953), poet
• Jason Bradbury (living), children's writer and TV presenter, Dot.Robot series.
• Malcolm Bradbury (1932–2000), novelist
• Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837–1915), novelist, Lady Audley's Secret
• Henry J. Bradfield (1805–1852), poet, writer and colonial officer
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 1933), novelist, A Woman of Substance
• Ernle Bradford (1922–1986), historian and writer
• Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891), writer and freethinker
• A. C. Bradley (1851–1935), literary critic
• Charles Bradley (1789–1871), preacher and religious writer
• Edward Bradley (wrote as Cuthbert M. Bede, B. A., 1827–1889), novelist and cleric
• F. H. Bradley (1846–1924), philosopher
• Henry Bradley (1845–1923), philologist and lexicographer
• Henry Bradshaw (c. 1450–1513), poet and monk
• Hilary Bradt (born 1941), travel writer and publisher
• John Brady (died 1814), miscellanist
• Melvyn Bragg (born 1939), novelist, biographer and broadcaster
• John Braine (1922–1986), novelist, Room at the Top
• Richard Braithwaite or Brathwait, (1588–1673), poet
• Ernest Bramah (born Ernest Bramah Smith, 1868–1942), novelist and humorist
• James Bramston (1694–1744), poet and satirist
• Barbarina Brand Lady Dacre, (1768–1854), poet, playwright and translator
• Christianna Brand (real name Mary Christianna Milne, 1907–1988), novelist and children's writer
• Hannah Brand (1754–1821), playwright, poet and actress
• Jo Brand (born 1957), writer and comedian
• William Branthwaite (died 1620), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Anna Brassey (1839–1887), travel writer
• Anna Eliza Bray (1790–1883), novelist and topographer
• Charles Bray (1811–1884), philosopher and phrenologist
• Angela Brazil (1868–1947), novelist
• Wallace Breem (1926–1990), novelist and librarian
• John Brent (1808–1882), novelist and antiquary
• Elinor Brent-Dyer (1894–1969), children's writer, the Chalet School series
• John Brereton (1571 or 1572 – c. 1632), travel writer and explorer
• Nicholas Breton (c. 1545 – c. 1626), poet and tractarian
• Richard Brett (1567–1637), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Simon Brett (born 1945), novelist and playwright
• E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897), writer and cleric, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
• George Brewer (born 1766), miscellanist
• James Norris Brewer (fl. 1799–1829), topographer and novelist
• John Brewster (1753–1842), religious writer and cleric
• Shane Briant (born 1946), novelist and actor
• John Bridges (1536–1618), tractarian and bishop
• Robert Bridges (1844–1930), Poet Laureate
• Katharine Mary Briggs (1898–1980), writer on folklore
• Raymond Briggs (born 1934), children's writer and illustrator, Father Christmas
• John Bright (1811–1889), orator and politician
• Joanna Briscoe (born 1963), novelist and journalist
• Vera Brittain (1893–1970), writer and pacifist
• Edwin Brock (1927–1997), poet
• William Brock (1807–1875), biographer and Baptist minister
• Alexander Brome (1620–1666), poet
• Richard Brome (c. 1590 – c. 1653), playwright, The Sparagus Garden
• Vincent Brome (1910–2004), biographer and novelist
• Eliza Bromley (fl. 1784–1803), novelist and translator
• Eleanor Bron (born 1938), writer and actress
• Anne Brontë (1820–1849), novelist, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
• Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), novelist, Jane Eyre
• Emily Brontë (1818–1848), novelist and poet, Wuthering Heights
• Patrick Brontë (born Brunty, 1777–1861), poet, writer and cleric
• Arthur de Capell Brooke (1791–1858), travel writer
• Christopher N. L. Brooke (living), medieval historian
• Frances Brooke (1724–1789), novelist and playwright
• Jocelyn Brooke (1908–1966), novelist, poet and biographer
• Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), poet
• Anita Brookner (born 1929), novelist
• Kevin Brooks (born 1959), children's writer
• Shirley Brooks (1816–1874), novelist, playwright and poet
• Ralph Broome (1742–1835), pamphleteer and poet
• William Broome (1689–1745), poet and translator
• Robert Barnabas Brough (1828–1864), writer and poet
• George Brown (1835–1917), ethnographer, diarist and missionary
• John Brown (1715–1766), essayist and divine
• Pamela Brown (1924–1989), children's writer and TV producer
• Pete Brown (born 1940), performance poet and songwriter
• Pete Brown (born 1968), beer writer and columnist
• Stewart Brown (born 1951), poet and scholar
• Tom Brown (1663–1704), satirist and translator
• Anthony Browne (born 1946), children's writer and illustrator
• Edward Browne (1862–1926), orientalist and writer
• Isaac Hawkins Browne (1705–1760), poet
• Moses Browne (1704–1787), poet and cleric
• Thomas Browne (1705–1782), polymath, Religio Medici
• William Browne (c. 1590 – c. 1645), poet
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), poet
• Oscar Browning (1837–1923), writer and scholar
• Robert Browning (1812–1889), poet
• Alan Brownjohn (born 1931), poet and novelist
• Dorita Fairlie Bruce (1885–1970), children's writer, Dimsie Goes to School
• Francis Bryan (c. 1490–1550), poet and courtier
• Samuel Egerton Brydges (1762–1836), bibliographer and editor
• Bryher (real name Annie Winifred Ellerman, 1894–1983), novelist, poet and memoirist
• Charles Bucke (1781–1846), writer and poet
• Anthony Buckeridge (1912–2004), children's writer, the Jennings stories
• James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855), journalist and travel writer
• Leicester Silk Buckingham (1825–1867), playwright and writer on history
• Francis Trevelyan Buckland (1826–1880), natural historian and surgeon
• William Buckland (1784–1856), geologist, palaeontologist and cleric
• Henry Thomas Buckle (1821–1862), historian
• Maria Elizabeth Budden (c. 1780–1832), children's writer
• Eustace Budgell (1686–1737), writer and politician
• Frank Thomas Bullen (1857–1915), novelist and autobiographer
• J. B. Bullen (living), writer on literature and art
• Gerald Bullett (1893–1958), novelist, critic and poet
• Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873, novelist, poet and playwright, The Last of the Barons
• Robert Bulwer-Lytton (wrote as Owen Meredith, 1831–1891), poet, Lucile
• Basil Bunting (1900–1985), poet, "Briggflatts"
• John Bunyan (1628–1688), writer, The Pilgrim's Progress
• Josiah Burchett (c. 1666–1746), naval historian and secretary to the Admiralty
• George Burges (1786–1864), Classical scholar
• Anthony Burgess (born John Burgess Wilson, 1917–1993), novelist, A Clockwork Orange
• Melvin Burgess (born 1954), children's writer, Junk
• John William Burgon (1813–1888), poet and theologian
• John Burgoyne (1722–1792), playwright and army officer
• Thomas Burke (1886–1945), novelist and writer on London
• William Burke (died 1798), pamphleteer and official
• Francis Burleigh (fl. 1590–1610), AV translator and cleric
• Andrew Burnaby (1732–1812), travel writer and cleric
• Francis Cowley Burnand (1836–1917), humorist and dramatist
• Thomas Burnet (c. 1635–1715), theologian and cosmogonist
• Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924), children's writer, The Secret Garden
• Charles Burney (1726–1814), music scholar and composer
• Charles Burney (1757–1817), scholar, schoolmaster and cleric
• Fanny Burney (also known as Frances, Mme d'Arblay, 1752–1840), novelist and diarist, Evelina
• Frances Burney (1776–1828), dramatist
• James Burney (1750–1821), travel writer and admiral
• Sarah Burney (1772–1844), novelist
• Richard Burns (poet) (also writes as Richard Berengarten, born 1943), poet
• Myles Burnyeat, (born 1939), philosopher and classicist
• James Burrow (1701–1782), scholar, scientist and lawyer
• Montagu Burrows (1819–1905), naval historian and naval officer
• Maurice Burton (1898–1992), popular science writer and zoologist
• Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), writer, translator and explorer, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night
• Robert Burton (1577–1640), polymath, The Anatomy of Melancholy
• Charlotte Bury (1775–1861), novelist and poet
• Elizabeth Bury (1644–1720), diarist and polymath
• Alban Butler (1710–1773), writer and cleric
• Gwendoline Butler (born 1922), novelist
• Joseph Butler (1692–1752), theologian and bishop
• Josephine Butler (1828–1906), writer and social campaigner
• Samuel Butler (1612–1680), poet and satirist, Hudibras
• Samuel Butler (1835–1902), writer and satirist, Erewhon
• Herbert Butterfield (1900–1979), historian and philosopher of history
• Jez Butterworth (born 1969), playwright, Jerusalem
• Mary Butts (1890–1937), writer and poet
• Bertha Henry Buxton (1844–1881), novelist and children's writer
• Nigel Buxton (born 1924), travel writer and wine critic
• Thomas Buxton (1786–1845), political writer, politician and social reformer
• A. S. Byatt (born 1936), novelist, Possession: A Romance
• John Byrom (1692–1763), poet
• John Byron (1723–1786), memoirist and admiral
• Lord Byron (1788–1824), poet, Don Juan
• Robert Byron (1905–1941), travel writer, The Road to Oxiana
• Ingram Bywater (1840–1914), scholar and editor
• Michael Bywater (born 1953), writer and broadcaster