Writers from Mercer County, New Jersey

Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer, musician, and director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three Off-Broadway plays, and a documentary. He has also written three novels and one graphic novel. He made his film debut with the 1985 science fiction feature Explorers, before making a breakthrough appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society. He appeared in various films before taking a role in the 1994 Generation X drama Reality Bites, for which he received critical praise. Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013), all of which received critical acclaim.

Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, filmmaker, political commentator, and television host. He hosted The Daily Show, a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015.

Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced or co-produced almost all of the films he has directed.

Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known as the author of the bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both cinema and television, including The Deep, The Island, Beast, and White Shark.

Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham Jr. (February 25, 1928 – December 14, 1998) was a prominent African-American civil rights advocate, author, and federal court judge. Higginbotham was the seventh African-American Article III judge appointed in the United States, and the first African-American United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was later appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, for which he served as Chief Judge from 1990 to 1991. In 1995, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He used the name "Leon" informally.

Frederick James Kroesen, Jr. (February 11, 1923 - April 30, 2020) was a United States Army four-star general and was the Commanding General of the Seventh United States Army and the commander of NATO Central Army Group from 1979 to 1983, and Commanding General, United States Army Forces Command from 1976 to 1978. He also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army from 1978 to 1979. He commanded troops in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, enabling him to be one of the very small number who ever was entitled to wear the Combat Infantryman Badge with two Stars, denoting active combat in three wars.

Charles Kenneth "C. K." Williams (November 4, 1936 – September 20, 2015) was an American poet, critic and translator. Williams won many poetry awards. Flesh and Blood won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1987. Repair (1999) won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, was a National Book Award finalist and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The Singing won the National Book Award, 2003 and in 2005 Williams received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. The 2012 film Tar related aspects of Williams' life using his poetry.

Daniel Edward Amrich (born 5 February 1971) is an American writer, author, actor, musician, and social media expert. He graduated from Ithaca College with a major in Audio Production and minor in Writing and became a professional journalist and critic with numerous video game and music magazines and websites. He has worked for leading print and online journals including Flux Magazine, Wired, Time Out New York, and others. He works for Ubisoft as a Content Designer, and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

Anton Strout (born January 24, 1970) is an American urban fantasy author. He is under contract for four books in his Simon Canderous series, the first of which, Dead to Me, was published by Ace Books in 2008. Tim Davis, reviewing that title for Bookloons.com, wrote, "Fans of urban fantasy should especially enjoy Strout's engaging new protagonist and will, no doubt, look forward to Simon Canderous making a quick return in further adventures." The second novel, Deader Still, was published in 2009. The third book, Dead Matter was published in 2010 and the fourth, Dead Waters was published in 2011.

William R. Forstchen (born October 11, 1950) is an American historian and author who began publishing in 1978 as a contributor to Boys' Life. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University, studying under the historian Professor Gunther E. Rothenberg, with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War, and the History of Technology.