Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald ( September 24 , 1896 â `` December 21 , 1940 ) was an American author of novels and short stories , whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age , a term he coined himself .
Simplified: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald ( September 24 , 1896 - December 21 , 1940 ) was an Irish American writer .