List of English Writers - L

L

• Robert Lacey (born 1944), biographer and historian
• James Lackington (1746–1815), memoirist and bookseller
• Thomas Hailes Lacy (1809–1873), playwright, theatre manager and publisher
• Andrew Lamb (born 1942), writer on music
• Caroline Lamb (1785–1828), novelist
• Charles Lamb (1775–1834), essayist
• Charlotte Lamb (real name Sarah Coates, several pen names, 1937–2000), novelist
• Mary Lamb (1764–1847), essayist
• Joseph Lancaster (1778–1838), educational reformer
• Osbert Lancaster (1908–1986), writer and cartoonist
• John Lanchester (born 1962), journalist and novelist
• Letitia Elizabeth Landon (pen name L. E. L., 1802–1838), poet and novelist
• Robert Eyres Landor (1781–1869), playwright, poet and cleric
• Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), writer and poet
• Edward William Lane (1801–1876), scholar and translator, One Thousand and One Nights
• Joel Lane (born 1963), novelist, story writer and poet
• John Langhorne (1735–1779), poet and translator
• William Langland (c. 1332 – c. 1386), poet, Piers Plowman
• Peter Langtoft (died c. 1305), historian and chronicler
• Bennet Langton (1736–1801), writer
• Emilia Lanier or Lanyer, (1569–1645) poet
• R. F. Langley (born 1938), poet
• Nathaniel Lardner (1684–1768), theologian
• Philip Larkin (1922–1985), poet and anthologist, The Whitsun Weddings
• Harold Laski (1893–1950), political theorist, economist and writer
• Marghanita Laski (1915–1988), novelist and broadcaster, Little Boy Lost
• David Lassman (born 1963), writer and scriptwriter
• Francis Lathom (1774–1832), novelist and playwright
• Hugh Latimer (c. 1487–1555), preacher, bishop and martyr
• William Laud (1573–1645), theologian, archbishop and martyr
• Hugh Laurie (born 1959), actor, comedian and novelist
• William Law (1686–1761), theologian.
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930), novelist, poet and playwright, Sons and Lovers
• George A. Lawrence (1827–1876), novelist
• T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), writer and soldier, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
• William Lawrence (1783–1867), scientific theorist
• Benjamin Lay (1681–1760), pamphleteer and philanthopist
• Layamon or Laȝamon (early 13th c.), verse chronicler, Brut
• John Layfield (died 1617), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• John le Carré (real name D. J. M. Cornwell, born 1931), genre novelist, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
• Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947), writer and poet
• William Le Queux (1866–1947), novelist, poet and essayist
• Jane Leade (1624–1704), religious writer and mystic
• Mary Leapor (1722–1746), poet
• Edward Lear (1812–1888), humorist, poet and artist, The Owl and the Pussycat
• Stephen Leather (living), novelist
• F. R. Leavis (1895–1978), literary critic and editor
• Norman Lebrecht (born 1948), writer on music
• Harriet Lee (1757–1851), novelist and playwright
• Laurie Lee (1914–1997), poet and autobiographer, Cider with Rosie
• Nathaniel Lee (1653–1692), playwright
• Sidney Lee (1859–1926), biographer, editor and critic, Dictionary of National Biography
• Sophia Lee (1750–1824), novelist and playwright
• Vernon Lee (real name Violet Paget, 1856–1935), novelist and essayist
• Eugene Lee-Hamilton (1845–1907), poet
• James Lees-Milne (1908–1997), architectural writer and diarist
• Joseph Leftwich (real name Lefkovicz, 1892–1984), poet, translator and anthologist
• John Lehmann (1907–1987), poet and editor
• R. C. Lehmann (1856–1929), writer and lyricist
• Rosamond Lehmann (1901–1990), novelist, autobiographer and translator
• Chandos Leigh (1791–1850), writer and poet
• Richard Leigh (1649/50–1728), poet
• Clare Leighton (1898–1989), writer and illustrator
• John Leland or Leyland (c. 1503/6–1552), antiquary
• John Leland (1691–1766), Presbyterian minister and author
• Mark Lemon (1809–1870), playwright, novelist and editor
• John Lemprière (c. 1765–1824), scholar and lexicographer, Bibliotheca Classica
• Sue Lenier (born 1957) poet and playwright
• Rebecca Lenkiewicz (born 1968), playwright
• John Lennon (1940–1980), singer, songwriter and humorist
• Charlotte Lennox (1730–1804), writer and poet, The Female Quixote
• Alan Leo (born William Frederick Allan, 1860–1917), astrologer
• Roger L'Estrange (1615–1704), pamphleteer, polemicist and translator
• Ada Leverson (1862–1933), novelist
• Denise Levertov (1923–1997), poet
• Michael Levey (1927–2008), art historian
• Peter Levi (1931–2000), poet, critic and travel writer
• Amy Levy (1861–1889), poet and novelist
• Andrea Levy (born 1956), novelist, Small Island
• Juliette de Bairacli Levy (1912–2009), herbalist and veterinary writer
• George Henry Lewes (1817–1878), philosopher and critic
• Alethea Lewis (wrote as Eugenia De Acton, 1749–1827), novelist
• C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), novelist, children's writer and critic, The Chronicles of Narnia
• David Lewis (1682–1760), poet and playwright
• George Cornewall Lewis (1806–1863), writer, philologist and politician
• Hilda Lewis (1896–1974), novelist and children's writer
• Leopold Davis Lewis (1828–1890), playwright and translator
• Matthew Lewis (1775–1818), novelist and diarist, The Monk
• Roger Lewis (born 1960), biographer and scholar
• Ted Lewis (1940–1982), novelist and screenwriter, Z Cars
• Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957), writer and painter, The Apes of God
• Marina Lewycka (born 1946), novelist and medical writer, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
• Peter Leycester or Leicester (1614–1678), antiquary and historian
• Nell Leyshon (living), dramatist and novelist
• Henry George Liddell (1811–1898), scholar, lexicographer and cleric
• John Lilburne (c. 1614–1657), political activist and pamphleteer
• George Lillo (1693–1739), playwright, The London Merchant
• Thomas Linacre or Lynaker (c. 1460–1524), humanist, physician and translator
• David Lindsay (1876–1945), novelist, A Voyage to Arcturus
• John Lingard (1771–1851), historian and hymn writer
• William Linley (1771–1835), writer and musician
• Eliza Lynn Linton (1822–1898), novelist and essayist
• Mary Linwood (1755–1845), novelist and needlewoman
• Anne Lister (1791–1840), diarist and traveler
• Thomas Henry Lister (1800–1842), novelist and registrar-general
• Toby Litt (born 1968), novelist and editor
• Emanuel Litvinoff (born 1915), novelist, poet and autobiographer
• Edward Lively (1545–1605), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Penelope Lively (born 1933), novelist and children's writer, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
• Richard Llewellyn (real name Richard Llewellyn Lloyd, 1906–1983), novelist and screenwriter, How Green Was My Valley
• Charles Lloyd (1775–1839), poet and translator
• Christopher Lloyd (1921–2006), garden writer
• Robert Lloyd (1733–1764), poet and satirist
• John Locke (1632–1704), philosopher, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
• William John Locke (1863–1930), novelist and playwright
• Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821–1895), poet
• David Lodge (author) (born 1935), novelist and critic
• Edmund Lodge (1756–1839), herald and biographer
• Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), physicist and science writer
• Oliver W. F. Lodge (1878–1955), poet and playwright
• Thomas Lodge (c. 1558–1625), playwright and poet
• Tom Lodge (1936–2012), writer and broadcaster
• John Lodwick (1916–1959), novelist
• Hugh Lofting (1886–1947), children's writer and poet, Dr. Dolittle
• Norah Lofts (1904–1983), novelist and biographer
• Christopher Logue (born 1926), poet and screenwriter
• Herbert Lomas (born 1924), poet and translator
• A. A. Long (born 1937), classical scholar
• Charles Edward Long (1796–1861), antiquary and genealogist
• George Long (1800–1879), classicist, polymath and translator
• Kate Long (living), novelist, The Bad Mother's Handbook
• Elizabeth Longford (1906–2002), biographer
• Roger Longrigg (1939–2000), novelist
• E. C. R. Lorac (real name Edith Caroline Rivett, other pen name Carol Carnac, 1884–1959), novelist
• F. G. Loring (1869–1951), story writer and wireless engineer
• Jane C. Loudon (1807–1858), novelist
• Richard Lovelace (1618–1657), poet, To Althea, from Prison
• William Lovett (1800–1877), political writer and Chartist
• Archibald Low (1888–1956), science writer
• Edward Lowbury (1913–2007), poet and bacteriologist
• Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947), novelist
• William Thomas Lowndes (c. 1798–1843), bibliographer
• Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957), poet and novelist, Under the Volcano
• Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwry, 1882–1966), poet, playwright and novelist
• John Lubbock (1834–1913), archaeologist, zoologist and politician
• Percy Lubbock (1879–1965), essayist, critic and biographer
• E. V. Lucas (1868–1938), essayist
• Edward Lucie-Smith (born 1933), writer, poet and anthologist
• Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692), memoirist and regicide
• Jane Lumley, Lady Lumley (1537–1538), translator
• Henry Luttrell (c. 1765–1851), poet
• Narcissus Luttrell (1657–1732), historian, diarist and bibliographer
• Alfred Comyn Lyall (1835–1911), historian and poet
• John Lydgate (c. 1370 – c. 1451), poet, Siege of Thebes
• Charles Lyell (1797–1875), geologist, Principles of Geology
• John Lyly (1553/4–1606), writer and dramatist
• Jonathan Lynn (born 1943), screenwriter and novelist. Yes, Minister
• George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1709–1773), politician, patron and poet
• George William Lyttelton (1883–1962), letter writer and schoolmaster, Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters
• Rosina Bulwer Lytton (1802–1882), novelist and campaigner, A Blighted Life