How well do you know your favorite authors? Take this famous author quiz to prove how much of a bibliophile you are! To understand a book, you must also understand the author. Authors of our favorite works of literature have come from different eras, socioeconomic backgrounds, and cultures. Just like classic movies, works of classic literature are time capsules that provide us with insight into the culture of a particular period.
They also have unique personalities that directly influence the story, the characters, messages, and themes of their books. Roald Dahl was known as Roald the Rotten because of his nasty behavior that most likely spawned from a rough childhood. His work shows the darker experiences that children may go through. These surprisingly true famous author trivia questions and answers will make you think they are straight out of one of these authors’ books.
Are you looking for more trivia? Check out our literature, philosophy, and poetry trivia. Top it off with some book questions to test your knowledge.
The Deserted Village (1770) is a seminal work by which author?
Elizabeth Gaskell
EM Forster
Ford Maddox Ford
Oliver Goldsmith
Which author is not like the others?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
J. R. R. Tolkien
Ursula K. Le Guin
C. S. Lewis
The Three Laws are rules governing the behaviour of robots written by which author?
J K Rowling
L Ron Hubbard
Frank Herbert
Issac Asimov
Ingenious Pain was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?
William Golding
Jenny Joseph
Graham Swift
Andrew Miller
Whose first published novel was ‘The Eyre Affair’?
Max Gladstone
Jasper Fforde
Terry Pratchett
Paul Melko
Who wrote the short story ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’?
Robert Benchley
Dorothy Parker
James Thurber
E. B. White
Who wrote the novel ‘Gorky Park’?
Mark Twain
John Steinbeck
Hardy Amis
Martin Cruz Smith
For which fictional hero did Alexander Selkirk provide a model?
Robinson Crusoe
Tom Sawyer
Lemuel Gulliver
Long John Silver
Dymoke is the middle name of which author?
Martin Amis
Zadie Smith
Anthony Powell
Mervyn Peake
In what year was ‘Pride and Prejudice’ first published?
1813
1823
1843
1833
Molloy and Malone Dies are both novels by which author?
Anthony Trollope
Jonathan Swift
Charles Dickens
Samuel Beckett
Who created ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ novels?
Isaac Asimov
Douglas Adams
Neil Gaiman
Terry Pratchett
Which classic novel opens with the line ‘You better not never tell nobody but God’?
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Bluest Eye
Beloved
The Color Purple
Which author wrote works including The Eve of St Venus and The Wanting Seed?
Roddy Doyle
Anthony Burgess
Ian Fleming
Salman Rushdie
Who created the fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey?
Agatha Christie
Dorothy L. Sayers
Ngaio Marsh
Margery Allingham
Which John Steinbeck novel revolves around the characters Lenny and George?
Tortilla Flat
Of Mice and Men
East of Eden
The Grapes of Wrath
Jean Valjean is a character from which novel?
The Count of Monte Cristo
Crime and Punishment
Les Misérables
Madame Bovary
Jean Valjean is a character from which classic novel?
War and Peace
Madame Bovary
Les Misérables
The Count of Monte Cristo
Which was the first story to feature the character Sherlock Holmes?
The Valley of Fear
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Sign of the Four
A Study In Scarlet
Which former stand-up comedian wrote the best-sellers ‘Dead Famous’ and ‘Chart Throb’?
Jeremy Hardy
Jo Brand
Stephen Fry
Ben Elton
The Bookshop and Offshore are key works by which author?
John Le Carre
CS Lewis
Penelope Fitzgerald
Alan Sillitoe
Against what is Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ set?
US Civil War
World War I
Spanish Civil War
World War II
In which book did the Babel fish first appear?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
2001: A Space Odyssey
Way Station
Brave New World
Which writer created ‘The Brentford Trilogy’, a series of novels featuring Jim Pooley and John Omally?
Jasper Fforde
Tom Holt
Terry Pratchett
Robert Rankin
Which author wrote the novel ‘Les Misérables’?
Alexandre Dumas
Émile Zola
Honoré de Balzac
Victor Hugo
In which novel did Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson first appear?
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Sign of the Four
The Valley of Fear
A Study in Scarlet
Which English author wrote The Canterbury Tales in the 14th Century?
Geoffrey Chaucer
Thomas Malory
John Gower
William Langland
What was the first James Bond novel?
Diamonds Are Forever
Casino Royale
Live and Let Die
Moonraker
Which of these is tied for most featured author in ‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’
Oscar Wilde
Jane Austen
Charles Dickens
Mark Twain
Which of these is a detective in three Agatha Christie stories?
Parker Pyne
Falcon Forrester
Sally Swan
Vernon Varrick
Finish the title of the novel by Doris Lessing: ‘The … Notebook’?
Lifetime
Scruffy
Love
Golden
Who wrote the novel ‘The Code of the Woosters’?
Guy Bolton
Evelyn Waugh
Russel Crouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Shaun Tan wrote about ‘Tales from Outer …’ where?
Date
Space
Suburbia
Bounds
My father gave me some advice which I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since,’ is a line from which novel?
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
The Road was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?
Ian Mcewan
Andrew Miller
Cormac McCarthy
Sebastian Barry
What was the sequel to Tom Sharpe’s novel ‘Porterhouse Blue’?
Vintage Stuff
Grantchester Grind
Blott on the Landscape
The Great Pursuit
Janet Evanovich has written novels featuring Stephanie Plum, what is Stephanie’s occupation?
Private caterer
Nightclub dancer
Taxi driver
Bounty hunter
The History of Tom Jones was written by which author?
George Eliot
Thomas Hardy
Arthur Conan Doyle
Henry Fielding
Georges Marvelous Medicine is a famous work by which children’s author?
CS Lewis
Roald Dahl
Enid Blyton
Lewis Caroll
White Teeth is a seminal work by which author?
Martin Amis
Zadie Smith
Mervyn Peake
Anthony Burgess
Which novelist wrote the book ‘Death in Venice’?
Franz Kafka
Hermann Hesse
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Thomas Mann
Which classic novel opens with the line ‘A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories’?
Brave New World
Animal Farm
Fahrenheit 451
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Joseph Anton: A Memoir was a 2012 work by which author?
Salman Rushdie
VS Naipaul
Roddy Doyle
Anthony Burgess
Who wrote the story of Rip van Winkle?
Edgar Allan Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Washington Irving
James Fenimore Cooper
In which novel do Carruthers and Davies discover a German plan to attack Britain while on a yachting holiday?
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The Riddle of the Sands
Journey to the End of the Night
The Charterhouse of Parma
Which of these is the name of a real 19th Century author?
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Bird
ThomasLove Chicken
Thomas Love Hen
Which author introduced the phrase ‘Beat Generation’ to describe Beatniks?
Ernest Hemingway
James Jones
Aldous Huxley
Jack Kerouac
Which classic novel opens with the line ‘All this happened, more or less’?
The Catcher in the Rye
Slaughterhouse-Five
Fahrenheit 451
Catch-22
Which author famously said ‘Golf is a good walk spoiled’?
Mark Twain
James Joyce
Lewis Carroll
Charles Dickens
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a work by which author?
JKRowling
Jane Austen
Emily Bronte
Muriel Spark
In which book do we meet the characters Old Major, Squealer and Clover?
Incredible Journey
Charlotte’s Web
Animal Farm
The Sheep Pig
How many books are there in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ series?
4
5
2
3
Which authors final work was ‘The Blue Flower’?
John Le Carre
Penelope Fitzgerald
Alan Sillitoe
CS Lewis
Which infamous movie villain was originally created by American horror/thriller author Thomas Harris?
Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)
Norman Bates (Psycho)
The Joker (Batman)
Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
Who wrote the novel ‘A Dirty Job’?
Terry Pratchett
Jasper Fforde
Tom Robbins
Christopher Moore
At what address did Sherlock Holmes live?
31 Spooner Street
221B Baker Street
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
61 Oakley Square
Jem Finch is a character from which novel?
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies
Of Mice and Men
Rosemary’s Baby is based on a book of the same name by which author?
Enid Blyton
Harper Lee
Ira Levin
Minette Walters
Jo March is a character originally from which novel?
Pride and Prejudice
Jo’s Boys
Little Men
Little Women
Which spy was brought up among the bombed-out ruins of WWII Berlin?
John Brock
Bernard Samson
John Steed
Herbie Kruger
Bilbo Baggins is a character from which of these books?
Charlotte’s Web
The Hobbit
The B.F.G.
The Borrowers
Chingachoock is a character from which novel?
The Last of the Mohicans
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Scarlet Letter
Ivanhoe
Which detective features in the stories ‘The Nine Tailors’ and ‘Murder Must Advertise’?
Sam Spade
Harry Bosch
Nancy Drew
Lord Peter Wimsey
Which fictional detective retired to become a beekeeper?
Philip Marlowe
Lord Peter Wimsey
Miss Marple
Sherlock Holmes
Which author was given the Freedom of the City of London in 2012?
Michael Rosen
Jacqueline Wilson
J. K. Rowling
Julia Donaldson
Which author created the character Leopold Bloom?
Jack Kerouac
Franz Kafka
James Joyce
John Updike
Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez wrote about Love in the Time of what?
Cholera
Hate
Peace
War
Wise Children was a 1991 work by which author?
JKRowling
Muriel Spark
Angela Carter
Emily Bronte
Four legs good, two legs bad’ is a quote from which George Orwell classic novel?
Coming Up for Air
Burmese Days
1984
Animal Farm
Which American author’s last words were: ‘Is it not meningitis?”’
Mark Twain
Louisa May Alcott
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Norman Mailer
Which Stephen is the cosmologist and author of ‘A Brief History of Time’?
Stephen King
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Merchant
Stephen Fry
The 1967 Disney film ‘The Jungle Book’ is based on a book by which author?
Cecil Rhodes
Rudyard Kipling
Robert Louis Stevenson
Charles Dickens
Which of these humour writers wrote columns for magazines ‘Outdoor Life’ and ‘Field & Stream’?
George Johnson
Erik Routley
Patrick F. McManus
Thomas McGuane
Which book contains the line ‘perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one’?
Cujo
Killing Floor
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Fudge Family in Paris is a key work by which author?
Charles Dickens
Henry Fielding
Thomas Moore
Jane Austen
Who wrote the significant scientific book ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematical’, published in 1687?
Isaac Newton
Johannes Kepler
Albert Einstein
Galileo Galilei
Which authors first novel was Alton Locke?
George Eliot
James Joyce
Henry Fielding
Charles Kingsley
Which author wrote about Fagin and his gang of child thieves?
Oliver Twist
Francesca Simon
Hans Christian Anderson
Charles Dickens
Who created the character Kenneth Widmerpool?
Kingsley Amis
Anthony Powell
Alison Lurie
Evelyn Waugh
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is balanced on four elephants which stand on the back of which other creature?
Cat
Horse
Dog
Turtle
Which author won the ú10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize in 2009 for their first novel ‘Blackmoor’?
Candida Green
Rose Tremain
Edward Hogan
Clare Littleford
Which author wrote ‘Lord of the Rings’?
Stephen King
Douglas Adams
J. R. R. Tolkien
Mark Twain
Tom Holt’s book ‘Expecting Someone Taller’ is very loosely based on whose operatic saga?
Richard Wagner
Franz Liszt
Giuseppe Verdi
Richard Strauss
Who co-wrote ‘Peter and the Starcatchers’ and ‘Cave of the Dark Wind’ with Ridley Pearson?
Gene Weingarten
Dave Barry
Carl Hiaasen
Amy Tan
Which author wrote War and Peace?
J.D. Salinger
Leo Tolstoy
George R.R. Martin
Harper Lee
The To The End of The Earth Trilogy is by which author?
George Orwell
DH Lawrence
William Golding
Jerome K Jerome
In what year was ‘A Dirty Job’ first published?
2012
2008
2006
2010
Which novel is about a man believing he’s having a heart-attack while watching football on TV?
Last Notes from Home
Why Did I Ever
A Fan’s Notes
Pages From a Cold Island
Which author was actually two cousins using the same pen-name?
James Herriot
Ellery Queen
Dr Seuss
Raymond Chandler
The Sandcastle is a major work by which author?
Angela Carter
Muriel Spark
JKRowling
Irish Murdoch
Published in 1900 and about a cycling tour in Germany, what was the sequel to Three Men in a Boat?
Novel Notes
Told After Supper
Three Men on the Bummel
Diary of a Pilgrimage
Which novel features a group of choirboys led by Jack Merridew?
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Swallows and Amazons
The Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies
The Stone Book Series is a series of novels by which author?
Jenny Joseph
Graham Swift
Alan Garner
William Golding
Which of these was a real 19th century author?
Maddox Ford Maddox
Maddox Ford
Ford Ford Maddox
Ford Maddox Ford
Who wrote the novel ‘The Bourne Identity’?
Frederick Forsyth
Robert Ludlum
Tom Clancy
Eric Van Lustbader
In what year was the novel ‘The Code of the Woosters’ first published?
1908
1918
1938
1928
In which novel is the protagonist called Winston Smith?
Animal Farm
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Man with the Golden Gun
Ulysses
Wives and Daughters as well as Cousin Phillis were works by which author?
Henry Fielding
Ford Maddox Ford
EM Forster
Elizabeth Gaskell
Holden Caulfield appears in which novel?
The Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
Lord of the Flies
The 1969 novel ‘The Godfather’ was written by which author?
Al Pacino
Francis Ford Coppola
Mario Puzo
Marlon Brando
Which author would only write when facing north?
Anthony Trollope
Charles Dickens
Wilkie Collins
Thomas Hardy
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