Born on September 25

A Parisian writer and salon hostess (1647–1733), she presided over one of the most influential literary salons of the Regency period, frequented by Fontenelle, Montesquieu, and Marivaux. A pioneer in thinking about women's education, she championed their access to intellectual life.

French naturalist (1794–1871), pioneer of marine biology. She invented the glass aquarium to observe octopuses and cephalopods in situ, revolutionizing the study of the marine world.

French sculptor (1795–1875) and pioneer of Romantic animalism. His bronzes depicting wild animals in combat combine naturalistic precision with dramatic tension. He is considered the undisputed master of animal sculpture in the 19th century.

Lu Xun (1881-1936) was the Chinese writer and essayist regarded as the father of modern Chinese literature. Author of satirical short stories and pamphlets, he denounced the archaisms of traditional society and campaigned for a literary language in vernacular Chinese.

Elsa Triolet (1896–1970) was a French novelist of Russian origin, partner of the poet Louis Aragon. The first woman to receive the Prix Goncourt, in 1945 for her short story collection 'A Fine of Two Hundred Francs', she was also a committed figure in the Resistance and the Communist movement.

American writer, a major figure of the literature of the American South. A master of stream of consciousness, in a dense body of work he depicted the decline of Southern families after the Civil War. Nobel Prize in Literature 1949.

Robert Bresson (1901-1999) was a major French filmmaker of the 20th century. A theorist of pared-down cinema, he forged an aesthetic of austerity by using non-professional actors whom he called his “models.”

Mark Rothko was an American painter of Latvian origin and a major figure of Abstract Expressionism. He is famous for his vast canvases composed of floating rectangles of color, intended to evoke an emotional and spiritual experience in the viewer.

Soviet Russian composer, one of the greatest symphonists of the 20th century. His work, marked by a conflicted relationship with the Stalinist regime, swings between apparent conformity and a tragic expression of the human condition.

Spanish filmmaker, screenwriter and producer born in 1949, a major figure of contemporary European cinema. Brought to prominence by the “Movida madrileña” following Franco's death, he established himself as the author of a flamboyant cinema blending melodrama, humor and desire.

An American intellectual, writer, and feminist activist, bell hooks dedicated her life to analyzing the connections between race, gender, and class. The author of more than thirty books, she profoundly reshaped feminist thought by centering the experiences of Black women.