William Barnes, b.1801. Dorset poet. You can read read some of his poems here if you can cut through the dialect.

Thomas Cooper, b. 1805. He was the son of a dyer, educated himself at home, and then opened his own primary school. A Wesleyan Methodist, then later a Baptist itinerant preacher, he was involved politically with the Chartists in protesting the poor working conditions for factory workers at that time in England. When he was in his sixties, he wrote his autobiography, The Life of Thomas Cooper.

Henrik Ibsen, b. 1828. Norwegian playwright. “There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.” —A Doll’s House.

Mitsumasa Anno, b. 1926. Author and illustrator of children’s books, born in Tsuwano, Japan. He was a teacher of mathematics for ten years before he began to write and illustrate children’s books. His books show both a love of mathematics and puzzles and a love of travel.
Try Anno’s USA or Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar.

I was once asked at a symposium, “Why do you draw?” I knew what they would have liked for an answer, “I draw for the children of Japan who represent our future, blah, blah, blah”. But what I actually wound up saying was, “I draw because that’s my work. I made it my work because it’s what I like to do”. Michael Ende then said, “The same goes for me. I’m just like Anno-san”, while Tasha Tudor said, “I do my work so that I can buy lots of flower bulbs”. From a 2004 interview with Mitsumasa Anno

I like Tasha Tudor’s answer.

Fred Rogers, b. 1928. I still say to my urchins, “Right as usual, King Friday.” The younger ones don’t even know where the phrase comes from, but I used to watch MisterRogers’ Neighborhood with Eldest Daughter about sixteen years ago. I thought then, and I still think, that it was much better than Sesame Street or most of the other PBS children’s shows. It was slower, of course, more reminiscent of Captain Kangaroo, the TV show I remember watching as a preschooler.