Literature
| Name | Class year | Notability | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832–1899) | College 1852 | Novelist | |
| Margaret Atwood (born 1939) | Radcliffe A.M. 1962 | Novelist | |
| Peter Benchley (1940–2006) | College 1961 | Novelist | |
| Robert Benchley (1889–1945) | College 1912 | Comedian | |
| John Berendt (born 1939) | College 1961 | Writer | |
| Robert Bly (born 1926) | College 1950 | Poet | |
| Marita Bonner | Radcliffe College 1922 | Harlem Renaissance writer, essayist, poet | |
| Bill Branon | College 1959 | Novelist | |
| Harold Brodkey (1930–1996) | College 1952 | Novelist | |
| George Hardin Brown | College 1971 | Medieval scholar | |
| Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867) | College 1814 | Mythologist | |
| William S. Burroughs (1914–1997) | College 1936 | Writer | |
| Ethan Canin (born 1960) | Medical 1989 | Author | |
| Steven R. Covey (1932–2012) | Business 1975 | Author and self-help guru | |
| Michael Crichton (1942–2008) | College 1964; Medical 1969 | Novelist, best known for Jurassic Park and the television series ER | |
| E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) | College 1915; A.M. 1916 | Poet | |
| Guy Davenport (1927–2005) | Ph.D. | Writer, artist, critic | |
| Paul de Man (1919–1983) | Ph.D. 1960 | literary critic | |
| Joseph Dennie (1768–1812) | College 1790 | Author, editor | |
| John dos Passos (1896–1970) | College 1916 | Novelist | |
| Edward Eager (1911–1964) | College c. 1932 | Writer of children's literature | |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) | College 1821; Divinity 1829 | Writer; gave name to Emerson Hall | |
| Berry Fleming (1899–1989) | College 1922 | Writer of novels | |
| Al Franken (born 1951) | College 1973 | Comedian, United States Senator | |
| Edward Gorey (1925–2000) | College 1950 | Writer, Illustrator | |
| Donald Hall (born 1928) | College 1951 | 14th U.S. Poet Laureate | |
| James D. Hart (died 1990) | Writer, Professor | ||
| Mark Helprin (born 1947) | College, Graduate School | Writer | |
| Julie Hilden | College 1989 | Author | |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) | College; Ph.D. 1836; professor | Poet, physician | |
| Angela Hur | College 2002 | Author | |
| Gregg Hurwitz | College 1995 | Novelist, comics writer | |
| Uzodinma Iweala (born 1982) | College 2004 | Author | |
| Gish Jen (born 1955) | College 1977 | Author | |
| Helen Keller (1880–1968) | Radcliffe 1904 | Deafblind author, activist, and lecturer | |
| H.T. Kirby-Smith (born 1938) | A.M. 1964 | Poet and Author | |
| Maxine Kumin (born 1925) | College 1946; A.M. 1948 | Poet | |
| Jean Kwok | College | Author | |
| Ursula K. Le Guin (born 1929) | Radcliffe 1951 | Novelist | |
| Hunter Lewis (born 1947) | A.B. 1969 | Author | |
| James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) | College 1838 | Poet, abolitionist | |
| Alison Lurie (born 1926) | Radcliffe 1947 | Novelist | |
| Norman Mailer (1923–2007) | College 1943 | Novelist | |
| F.O. Matthiessen (1902–1950) | M.A. 1926 Ph.D 1927 | Harvard Teacher | |
| Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011) | Radcliffe 1947 | Novelist | |
| Charles Murray (born 1943) | College 1965 | Writer | |
| Howard Nemerov (1920–1991) | College 1941 | Poet | |
| Frank O'Hara (1926–1966) | College 1950 | Poet | |
| George Plimpton (1927–2003) | College 1948 | Writer, journalist, actor | |
| Adrienne Rich (born 1929) | Radcliffe 1951 | Poet | |
| E. San Juan, Jr. | A.M.; Ph.D. | Poet, cultural scholar | |
| Erich Segal (born 1937) | College 1958; A.M. 1959; Ph.D. 1965 | Author, screenwriter | |
| Maximo V. Soliven (born 1933) | Ph.D. 1951 | Decorated Writer; Chevalier (knight) of the National Order of Merit | |
| Susan Sontag (1933–2004) | A.M. 1957 | Writer, activist | |
| Thomas Sowell (born 1930) | College 1958 | Writer, economist | |
| Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) | Radcliffe 1897 | Poet, novelist | |
| Ernest Thayer (1863–1940) | College 1885 | Poet | |
| Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) | College 1837 | Journalist, philosopher, writer | |
| Sergio Troncoso (born 1961) | College 1983 | Novelist and writer of short stories | |
| Lily Tuck (born 1938) | Radcliffe College 1960 | Novelist, winner of the 2004 National Book Award. | |
| Scott Turow (born 1949) | Law 1978 | Novelist, lawyer | |
| John Updike (1932–2009) | College 1954 | Novelist | |
| Kaavya Viswanathan (born 1987) | College 2008 | Novelist, noted plagiarist | |
| Andrew Weil (born 1942) | College 1964; Medical School 1968 | Medical writer | |
| Richard Wilbur (born 1921) | A.M. 1947; professor | Poet | |
| Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938) | A.M. 1922 | Novelist | |
| Elizabeth Wurtzel (born 1967) | College 1989 | Writer | |
| A. B. Yehoshua (born 1936) | Novelist, essayist, and playwright |
Read more about this topic: List Of Harvard University People
Famous quotes containing the word literature:
“[The] attempt to devote oneself to literature alone is a most deceptive thing, and ... often, paradoxically, it is literature that suffers for it.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“The high-water mark, so to speak, of Socialist literature is W.H. Auden, a sort of gutless Kipling.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)