Writers from Manhattan

American writer (1934-2021)

American pianist, composer, producer (1928–2023)

American filmmaker (born 1961)

American journalist, social activist, and Catholic convert (1897-1980)

American actress and writer (1896–1985)

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of Girls and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. She started her career writing, directing, and starring in her semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She has since written and directed the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy. In 2025, she created the Netflix series Too Much starring Megan Stalter.

American novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer (1914-1994)

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an American author, diplomat, and attorney. She served as the United States ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017 and ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2024. Most of Kennedy's professional life has been in literature, law, politics, education reform, and charity. She is a member of the Kennedy family and the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

American actor, comedian and filmmaker (born 1979)

American recording artist; pop rock singer-songwriter and pianist

American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic (1909-1955)

American musician (born 1977)

American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

American television host (1901-1974)

American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology and literary critic (1895-1990)

American comedian and actress (born 1981)

American film director, screenwriter and producer

American novelist, playwright (1929–2007)

American songwriter and composer (born 1980)

American novelist, short story writer and playwright (1885–1968)

American actor

American filmmaker and novelist

American politician (1920-1998)

American singer and guitarist

American radio and television personality (born 1954)

American actress (1910–1999)

American comedian

American writer and poet (1884–1933)

American screenwriter, playwright, author, actress and television producer (1888-1981)

American writer and producer (born 1970)

American writer (1899–1932)

American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel (1864–1912)

American actor (born 1937)

American actress and comedian (1934-2010)

American journalist (born 1967)

American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet (1947–1997)

poet from the United States of America (1927–2017)

American music journalist (born 1942)

African-American writer (1934–2014)

former mayor of New York City (1924-2013)

American comedian and politician (born 1951)

American lyricist (1896–1983)

American lawyer and pacifist born in Romania (Great Romania Kingdom)

English writer, humorist and actor (1908-1999)

American playwright and screenwriter (born 1956)

American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator (1925–2008)

American writer and screenwriter (1903–1940)

American journalist, presenter, producer, and author

American writer (1930-2001)

African-American playwright and author (1930-1965)

American philosopher (1895–1985)

American cartoonist, children's illustrator and writer (1907–2003)

Canadian comedic actress and author (born 1969)

Princess Caroline Lee Radziwill, previously known as Lee Canfield and Lee Ross, was an American socialite, public relations executive, and interior designer. She was the younger sister of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and sister-in-law of President John F. Kennedy.

American television writer and producer (1943–2018)

American novelist, librarian, nurse (1891–1964)

Frances Ann Lebowitz is an American author, public speaker, cultural critic, and actor. She is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities and her association with many prominent figures of the New York art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, including Andy Warhol, Martin Scorsese, Jerome Robbins, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, Candy Darling, and the New York Dolls.

American poet, art critic and writer (1926-1966)

American screenwriter and director

American science fiction author (1923-1958)