Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

American writer Lydia Davis.

Lydia Davis

Daniel Defoe

(1660 - 1731)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Black and white photograph of Sven Birkerts sitting in front of a bookshelf.

Sven Birkerts

Irish writer George Moore.

George Moore

(1852 - 1933)

American playwright and author David Mamet.

David Mamet

French author Émile Zola.

Émile Zola

(1840 - 1902)

American novelist and short story writer Richard Yates.

Richard Yates

(1926 - 1992)

British philosopher, logician, and social critic Bertrand Russell.

Bertrand Russell

(1872 - 1970)

Norman Maclean

(1902 - 1990)

American musician Charles Mingus.

Charles Mingus

(1922 - 1979)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

English writer Geoffrey Chaucer.

Geoffrey Chaucer

(c. 1342 - 1400)

Italian literary critic and novelist Umberto Eco.

Umberto Eco

(1932 - 2016)

Black and white photograph of a young Mark Twain with dark hair.

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Polish-born French physicist Marie Curie.

Marie Curie

(1867 - 1934)

American writer Philip Connors.

Philip Connors

American poet Robert Frost.

Robert Frost

(1874 - 1963)

Usama Ibn Munqidh

(1095 - 1188)

Edwin Lefèvre

(1871 - 1943)

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Nikolai Gogol

(1809 - 1852)

Bust of Hesiod

Hesiod

American author, essayist, and editor Donovan Hohn.

Donovan Hohn

American poet Theodore Roethke.

Theodore Roethke

(1908 - 1963)

American feminist, activist, and editor Gloria Steinem.

Gloria Steinem

Swiss writer, philosopher, and television presenter Alain de Botton.

Alain de Botton

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

Yoshida Kenko

(c. 1283 - c. 1351)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Black and white image of English scholar, writer, and clergyman Robert Burton.

Robert Burton

(1577 - 1640)

American singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie.

Woody Guthrie

(1912 - 1967)

American abolitionist and author Harriet Jacobs.

Harriet Jacobs

(1813 - 1897)

English cook and author Isabella Mary Beeton.

Isabella Mary Beeton

(1836 - 1865)

American documentary filmmaker and writer Eleanor Coppola.

Eleanor Coppola

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Color image of English novelist Charlotte Brontë with book in hand.

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Freelance writer and former academic ghostwriter Dave Tomar.

Dave Tomar

American writer Theodore Dreiser.

Theodore Dreiser

(1871 - 1945)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

Seated man with a large white beard wearing a dark suit

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Bust of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

(121 - 180)

Portrait of Chinese Daoist Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi

(c. 369 BC - 286 BC)

Roman playwright Terence.

Terence

(c. 195 BC - c. 159 BC)

French theologian John Calvin.

John Calvin

(1509 - 1564)

British writer Bernard Mandeville.

Bernard Mandeville

(1670 - 1733)

American author Steven Millhauser.

Steven Millhauser

Chinese-American journalist Leslie T. Chang.

Leslie T. Chang

Russian author Anton Chekhov.

Anton Chekhov

(1860 - 1904)

American journalist Susan Orlean.

Susan Orlean

French art historian and member of the French Resistance Agnès Humbert.

Agnès Humbert

(1894 - 1963)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

British author Mary Shelley.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

(1797 - 1851)

Japanese diarist and poet Sei Shōnagon.

Sei Shonagon

(c. 966 - c. 1025)

Photograph of Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen

(1857 - 1929)

Black and white photograph of English poet and librarian Philip Larkin.

Philip Larkin

(1922 - 1985)

Engraving of Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Adam Smith

(1723 - 1790)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Professor of critical theory and cultural history Ben Kafka.

Ben Kafka

American writer and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich.

Barbara Ehrenreich

(1941 - 2022)

English author Robert Southey.

Robert Southey

(1774 - 1843)

German philosopher and music critic Theodor Adorno.

Theodor Adorno

(1903 - 1969)

American animator, writer, and director Mike Judge.

Mike Judge

color oil painting of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a red tunic with gray hair

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(1756 - 1791)

Photograph of American writer Ralph Ellison.

Ralph Ellison

(1914 - 1994)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Black and white photograph of German-language writer Franz Kafka.

Franz Kafka

(1883 - 1924)

Louis C.K.

German writer, composer, and painter E. T. A. Hoffmann.

E.T.A. Hoffmann

(1776 - 1822)

Ōyama Shirō

Painted portrait of Florentine statesman and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Niccolò Machiavelli

(1469 - 1527)

Portrait bust of presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey Homer.

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

American author Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe

(1931 - 2018)

Photograph of African-American poet and writer Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

(1902 - 1967)

St. Benedict

Saint Benedict

(c. 480 - c. 547)