Birthdays: Andre Norton (1912), Virginia Sorensen (1912), Russel B. Nye (1913), William Bronk (1918), Margaret Truman (1924), Robert Newton Peck (1928), Chaim Polok (1929), Ruth Rendell (1930), Mo Yan (1955),

Andre Norton published her first novel in 1934, and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977, and won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) association in 1983.

Virginia Sorensen won the 1957 Newbery Award for “Miracles on Maple Hill”

Russel Nye won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for “George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel”

Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature

Quote: “A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel.” – Mo Yan

Tip: Louis L’Amour had 350 rejections before selling his first manuscript. Ursula LeGuin sent out her first story when she was eleven; she got her first acceptance at thirty-three. The tip? They didn’t quit. Neither should you.

Jumpstart: “Please forgive me, but you… (finish this by using: curt, bingo, belly flop)