American writer William Styron.

William Styron

(1925 - 2006)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

Paddy Chayefsky

(1923 - 1981)

Photograph of Soviet playwright and writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Mikhail Bulgakov

(1891 - 1940)

John Barth

Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician Moses Maimonides.

Moses Maimonides

(1135 - 1204)

Persian philosopher and scientist Avicenna.

Avicenna

(980 - 1037)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Li Zhisui

(1919 - 1995)

Al-Kindi

(c. 801 - c. 870)

English novelist, essayist, and critic George Orwell.

George Orwell

(1903 - 1950)

Jonathan Lyons

Jacques Ferrand

(c. 1575 - c. 1620)

Meehan Crist

Meehan Crist

Portrait of English essayist and critic Thomas De Quincey.

Thomas De Quincey

(1785 - 1859)

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.

Hippocrates

(c. 460 BC - c. 375 BC)

Photograph of American clinical psychologist and writer Kay Redfield Jamison.

Kay Redfield Jamison

James Orbinski

Black and white photograph of scholar, novelist, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis

(1898 - 1963)

Photograph of English poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling.

Rudyard Kipling

(1865 - 1936)

Mimnermus

(c. 630 BC - c. 600 BC)

Daniel Defoe

(1660 - 1731)

Classical bust of Thucydides.

Thucydides

(c. 460 BC - c. 404 BC)

Black and white photograph of British writer Doris Lessing.

Doris Lessing

(1919 - 2013)

English art historian, novelist and journalist Iain Pears.

Iain Pears

Jean-Dominique Bauby

(1952 - 1997)

English writer Jerome K. Jerome.

Jerome K. Jerome

(1859 - 1927)

photograph of David Foster Wallace speaking at a podium

David Foster Wallace

(1962 - 2008)

Susan Sontag

(1933 - 2004)

American novelist and short story writer Bernard Cooper.

Bernard Cooper

Greek physician, writer, and philosopher Galen.

Galen

(129 - c. 216)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

Noga Arikha

Atul Gawande

Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

American poet William Carlos Williams.

William Carlos Williams

(1883 - 1963)

Elizabeth Blackwell

(1821 - 1910)

Louisa May Alcott

(1832 - 1888)

Painting of humanist and scholar Erasmus.

Erasmus

(1466 - 1536)

Black and white photograph of John Crowley sitting on a porch.

John Crowley

Louis Pasteur

(1822 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of Emily Dickinson sitting next to a desk.

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

American writer and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich.

Barbara Ehrenreich

(1941 - 2022)

Quintus Serenus Sammonicus

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Dorothea Dix

(1802 - 1887)

Sinclair Lewis

(1885 - 1951)

Andrew Blackbird

(c. 1815 - 1908)

Black and white photograph of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud with cigar.

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

John Wesley

(1703 - 1791)

Black and white photograph of Alsatian-German winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Albert Schweitzer.

Albert Schweitzer

(1875 - 1965)

Hammurabi

(1810 BC - 1750 BC)

Ken Kesey

(1935 - 2001)

Andreas Vesalius

(1514 - 1564)

Soranus

(c. 150 - c. 200)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Felix Platter

(1536 - 1614)

Color photograph of Oliver Sacks with a white beard and glasses.

Oliver Sacks

(1933 - 2015)

Founder of the Macrobiotic diet and philosophy George Ohsawa.

George Ohsawa

(1893 - 1966)

Iain Bamforth

Surgeon and author Richard Selzer.

Richard Selzer

(1928 - 2016)

Depiction of German abbess and mystic St. Hildegard.

Hildegard of Bingen

(1098 - 1179)

Italian poet and librettist Felice Romani.

Felice Romani

(1788 - 1865)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

Black and white image of Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca the Younger.

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Black and white photograph of American writer and critic Anatole Broyard.

Anatole Broyard

(1920 - 1990)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Fanny Burney

(1752 - 1840)

black and white pencil drawing of Moliere in an ornate frame

Molière

(1622 - 1673)