Color portrait of the Italian writer and libertine Giacomo Casanova.

Giacomo Casanova

(1725 - 1798)

Albert Einstein in a suit and tie standing in front of a chalkboard

Albert Einstein

(1879 - 1955)

Dashiell Hammett

(1894 - 1961)

Tom Stoppard

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Roger Pearson

English writer Geoffrey Chaucer.

Geoffrey Chaucer

(c. 1342 - 1400)

French theologian John Calvin.

John Calvin

(1509 - 1564)

Damon Runyon

(1880 - 1946)

Jeanette Winterson

Alexander Hamilton

(1755 - 1804)

Pierre-Simon Laplace

(1749 - 1827)

Luisa Valenzuela

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Richard Dawkins

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Robert Coover

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

E.M. Cioran

(1911 - 1995)

Blaise Pascal

(1623 - 1662)

Charles Peirce

(1839 - 1914)

Polish-born American writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

(1903 - 1991)

Greek dramatist Sophocles.

Sophocles

(c. 496 BC - 406 BC)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

John Maynard Keynes

(1883 - 1946)

Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

Fernando Pessoa

(1888 - 1935)

Alice Munro

Eric Banks

Black and white photograph of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.

Julio Cortázar

(1914 - 1984)

Donald Trump

Michael Paterniti

black and white photo of James Thurber lighting a cigarette in the new york times office

James Thurber

(1894 - 1961)

British writer Laurence Sterne.

Laurence Sterne

(1713 - 1768)

Thomas Nagel

Wang Chong

(c. 27 - 100)

William Kentridge

Graham Greene

(1904 - 1991)

Portrait of Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz in a nun's habit.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

(c. 1651 - 1695)

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes

(1547 - 1616)

Portrait of young Arthur Schopenhauer wearing a brown suit and a cravat.

Arthur Schopenhauer

(1788 - 1860)

Juvenal

(c. 60 - c. 130)

Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

(106 BC - 43 BC)

Jennifer 8. Lee

Ulfat al-Idilbi

(1912 - 2007)

Claude McKay

(1889 - 1948)

Black and white photograph of German writer Hermann Hesse.

Hermann Hesse

(1877 - 1962)

Es’kia Mphahlele

(1919 - 2008)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya. Photograph by David Shankbone (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

Photograph of American writer Ralph Ellison.

Ralph Ellison

(1914 - 1994)

English novelist Henry Fielding.

Henry Fielding

(1707 - 1754)

Usama Ibn Munqidh

(1095 - 1188)

Painted portrait of Florentine statesman and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

Niccolò Machiavelli

(1469 - 1527)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Jia Yi

(c. 200 BC - 169 BC)

Baltasar Gracián

(1601 - 1658)

Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt.

Jacob Burckhardt

(1818 - 1897)

German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Bertolt Brecht

(1898 - 1956)

Image of French poet François Villon.

François Villon

(1431 - c. 1463)

Louisa Amelia Knappe Smith Clappe

(1819 - 1906)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Ann Fabian

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Sculpture bust of legendary Greek fabulist Aesop.

Aesop

(c. 620 BC - c. 564 BC)

Girolamo Cardano

(1501 - 1576)

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

Image of French writer Honoré de Balzac with hand on chest.

Honoré de Balzac

(1799 - 1850)

Iris Murdoch

(1919 - 1999)

Geoff Dyer