251+ Best Famous Authors Trivia Questions & Answers

Question: In what year was 'Pride and Prejudice' first published?

Answer: 1813

Question: In which book do we meet the characters Old Major, Squealer and Clover?

Answer: Animal Farm

Question: Which author created the character Leopold Bloom?

Answer: James Joyce

Question: How many books are there in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series?

Answer: 5

Question: Which former stand-up comedian wrote the best-sellers 'Dead Famous' and 'Chart Throb'?

Answer: Ben Elton

Question: Which author famously said 'Golf is a good walk spoiled'?

Answer: Mark Twain

Question: Which novelist wrote the book 'Death in Venice'?

Answer: Thomas Mann

Question: Which author won the ú10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize in 2009 for their first novel 'Blackmoor'?

Answer: Edward Hogan

Question: Which author introduced the phrase 'Beat Generation' to describe Beatniks?

Answer: Jack Kerouac

Question: Bilbo Baggins is a character from which of these books?

Answer: The Hobbit

Question: Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez wrote about Love in the Time of what?

Answer: Cholera

Question: The Fudge Family in Paris is a key work by which author?

Answer: Thomas Moore

Question: In what year was 'A Dirty Job' first published?

Answer: 2006

Question: Who co-wrote 'Peter and the Starcatchers' and 'Cave of the Dark Wind' with Ridley Pearson?

Answer: Dave Barry

Question: In what year was the novel 'The Code of the Woosters' first published?

Answer: 1938

Question: Rosemary's Baby is based on a book of the same name by which author?

Answer: Ira Levin

Question: Which of these is a detective in three Agatha Christie stories?

Answer: Parker Pyne

Question: Which author was actually two cousins using the same pen-name?

Answer: Ellery Queen

Question: The Three Laws are rules governing the behaviour of robots written by which author?

Answer: Issac Asimov

Question: Georges Marvelous Medicine is a famous work by which children's author?

Answer: Roald Dahl

Question: Shaun Tan wrote about 'Tales from Outer …' where?

Answer: Suburbia

Question: Which author wrote the novel 'Les Misérables'?

Answer: Victor Hugo

Question: Which author wrote War and Peace?

Answer: Leo Tolstoy

Question: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a work by which author?

Answer: Muriel Spark

Question: Jo March is a character originally from which novel?

Answer: Little Women

Question: White Teeth is a seminal work by which author?

Answer: Zadie Smith

Question: The 1969 novel 'The Godfather' was written by which author?

Answer: Mario Puzo

Question: The Stone Book Series is a series of novels by which author?

Answer: Alan Garner

Question: Four legs good, two legs bad' is a quote from which George Orwell classic novel?

Answer: Animal Farm

Question: Finish the title of the novel by Doris Lessing: 'The … Notebook'?

Answer: Golden

Question: Terry Pratchett's Discworld is balanced on four elephants which stand on the back of which other creature?

Answer: Turtle

Question: Complete the title of this novel by Dario Fo: '… Death of an Anarchist'?

Answer: Accidental

Question: The novel 'Three Men in a Boat' was actually a story about three men and a dog. What was the name of the dog?

Answer: Montmorency

Question: Which Irish author wrote 'Ulysses'?

Answer: James Joyce

Question: Saturday was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?

Answer: Ian McEwan

Question: In what year was 'Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal' first published?

Answer: 2002

Question: Which name completes the title of this Roald Dahl novel '... and the Chocolate Factory'?

Answer: Charlie

Question: What word completes this novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: 'One … in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'

Answer: Day

Question: Which of these authors was born in 1898?

Answer: CS Lewis

Question: Which name completes the title of this Kingsley Amis novel 'Lucky …'?

Answer: Jim

Question: Which name completes the title of this Peter Carey novel 'Oscar and …'?

Answer: Lucinda

Question: Which name completes the title of this Lucy Maud Montgomery novel '… of Green Gables'?

Answer: Anne

Question: Who is Michael Robotham watching in his bestselling novel?

Answer: You

Question: Which name completes the title of this Margaret Atwood novel 'Alias …'?

Answer: Grace

Question: Which William S. Burroughs novel did the author advise could be read in any chapter order?

Answer: Naked Lunch

Question: In what year was 'The Pro' first published?

Answer: 2002

Question: Which fictional spy is associated with the code name 007?

Answer: James Bond

Question: How many volumes was the classic novel 'Little Women' originally published in?

Answer: 2

Question: Which word completes this Ernest Hemingway novel: 'The Old Man and the ...'?

Answer: Sea

Question: Which novel was first published in Britain under the title 'The Whale'?

Answer: Moby Dick

Question: The Woodlanders was a work by which author?

Answer: Thomas Hardy

Question: The Engima of the Arrival is a famous work by which British author?

Answer: VS Naipaul

Question: Who wrote the books 'Tara Road' 'The Lilac Bus' and 'Light A Penny Candle'?

Answer: Maeve Binchy

Question: Reader, I married him,' appears in the conclusion of what novel?

Answer: Jane Eyre

Question: Where were Chaucer's pilgrims bound?

Answer: Canterbury

Question: Which name completes the title of this Thomas Hardy novel '... the Obscure'?

Answer: Jude

Question: Which author wrote The Beach?

Answer: Alex Garland

Question: The novel 'The Train from Nowhere', written by Michel Thaler in 2004 is notable for not containing any examples of what kind of word?

Answer: Verb

Question: Guy Mannering is a work by which author?

Answer: Walter Scott

Question: What word completes the play by George Bernard Shaw: 'Man and …'?

Answer: Superman

Question: Sandition' was an unfinished work by which author?

Answer: Jane Austen

Question: Which author wrote novels called 'Far From The Madding Crowd', 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'?

Answer: Thomas Hardy

Question: Finish the title of the John Steinbeck novel 'Of Mice and ...'?

Answer: Men

Question: Which author wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Answer: Mark Twain

Question: Who wrote the classic novel 'Black Beauty'?

Answer: Anna Sewell

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line '124 was spiteful'?

Answer: Beloved

Question: Which name completes the title of this Virginia Woolf novel '…'s Room'?

Answer: Jacob

Question: Rudyard Kipling wrote a series of 'Just So Stories for Little __________'?

Answer: Children

Question: Finish the title of the Thomas Mann novella '... in Venice?

Answer: Death

Question: Which book by Peter Wright did the government try to ban?

Answer: Spycatcher

Question: What is the setting for Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea'?

Answer: Cuba

Question: Money' (1984) and 'London Fields' (1989) are seminal works by which author?

Answer: Martin Amis

Question: Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain is a work by which author?

Answer: Thomas Amory

Question: According to Paolo Coelho's 1998 book, who decided to die?

Answer: Veronika

Question: Fantastic Mr. Fox is a famous work by which children's author?

Answer: Roald Dahl

Question: Eugene O'Neill wrote about A Long Day's Journey into what?

Answer: Night

Question: How many men were in Jerome K. Jerome's boat?

Answer: Three

Question: The novel 'A Confederacy of Dunces' is set in which American city?

Answer: New Orleans

Question: What is the land of giants called in 'Gulliver's Travels'?

Answer: Brobdingnag

Question: Who wrote the travel book 'Notes From a Small Island'?

Answer: Bill Bryson

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line 'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day'?

Answer: Jane Eyre

Question: Which English author was born in 1930 in China?

Answer: JG Ballard

Question: How many steps are there in the novel by John Buchan?

Answer: 39

Question: The Drowned World is a seminal work by which author?

Answer: JG Ballard

Question: Which name completes the title of this William Styron novel '…'s Choice'?

Answer: Sophie

Question: Who wrote the novel 'The Loved One'?

Answer: Evelyn Waugh

Question: Which name completes the title of this Kingsley Amis novel 'The … Papers'?

Answer: Rachel

Question: Which of these is a fictional detective created by Michael Connolly?

Answer: Harry Bosch

Question: The Witches is a famous work by which children's author?

Answer: Roald Dahl

Question: Which detective is the famous creation of Mickey Spillane?

Answer: Mike Hammer

Question: Which author wrote 'Loot' and 'What the Butler saw'?

Answer: Joe Orton

Question: What is the Empress of Blandings that features in several books by P.G. Wodehouse?

Answer: A pig

Question: Which of these Kingsley Amis novels was a satire on middle class academia through farcical exploits?

Answer: Lucky Jim

Question: The Red House Mystery is a work by which children's author?

Answer: AA Milne

Question: Which name completes the title of this Beryl Bainbridge novel 'Master …'?

Answer: Georgie

Question: Mr. Pim' is a lesser known work by which author?

Answer: AA Milne

Question: In 'Porterhouse Blue', which character rises from college porter to become the Master of the college?

Answer: Skullion

Question: In 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', what is the ultimate answer to everything?

Answer: 42

Question: Complete the name of this book: 'To Kill a…'

Answer: Mockingbird

Question: Which word completes this William Faulkner novel: 'The … and the Fury'?

Answer: Sound

Question: Which musician co-authored 'Bang! The Complete History of the Universe'?

Answer: Brian May

Question: The True Born Englishman, (1701,) was the first success for which author?

Answer: Daniel Defoe

Question: Which author wrote the novels 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Persuasion'?

Answer: Jane Austen

Question: What was the name of the spy whose cover story was that of an insurance consultant?

Answer: Tweed

Question: Lorna Doone is a seminal work by which author?

Answer: RD Blackmore

Question: In a Free State is a seminal work by which author?

Answer: VS Naipaul

Question: In which English city is 'Bridget Jones's Diary' set?

Answer: London

Question: James Dixon is a character from which novel?

Answer: Lucky Jim

Question: In what year was 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' first published?

Answer: 1979

Question: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is a 1964 children's book from which author?

Answer: Roald Dahl

Question: Who created the character James Bond?

Answer: Ian Fleming

Question: Which name completes the title of this Robert Graves novel 'I, …'?

Answer: Claudius

Question: Which of Ben Elton's novels got him the Crime Writer's Association of Great Britain Gold Dagger Award?

Answer: Popcorn

Question: In the novel '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', what was the name of the captain of the submarine Nautilus?

Answer: Captain Nemo

Question: About the capture of which city did Asquith say 'it would maintain the authority of our flag in the East'?

Answer: Baghdad

Question: For which fictional hero did Alexander Selkirk provide a model?

Answer: Robinson Crusoe

Question: Which spy was brought up among the bombed-out ruins of WWII Berlin?

Answer: Bernard Samson

Question: What was the first James Bond novel?

Answer: Casino Royale

Question: Tom Holt's book 'Expecting Someone Taller' is very loosely based on whose operatic saga?

Answer: Richard Wagner

Question: Which author wrote about Fagin and his gang of child thieves?

Answer: Charles Dickens

Question: The Deserted Village (1770) is a seminal work by which author?

Answer: Oliver Goldsmith

Question: Jean Valjean is a character from which classic novel?

Answer: Les Misérables

Question: Which fictional detective retired to become a beekeeper?

Answer: Sherlock Holmes

Question: Which authors first novel was Alton Locke?

Answer: Charles Kingsley

Question: The Sandcastle is a major work by which author?

Answer: Irish Murdoch

Question: Which English author wrote The Canterbury Tales in the 14th Century?

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

Question: Ingenious Pain was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?

Answer: Andrew Miller

Question: Who wrote the significant scientific book 'Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematical', published in 1687?

Answer: Isaac Newton

Question: Which of these is tied for most featured author in '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'

Answer: Charles Dickens

Question: The History of Tom Jones was written by which author?

Answer: Henry Fielding

Question: Which of these was a real 19th century author?

Answer: Ford Maddox Ford

Question: Janet Evanovich has written novels featuring Stephanie Plum, what is Stephanie's occupation?

Answer: Bounty hunter

Question: Who wrote the novel 'The Code of the Woosters'?

Answer: P. G. Wodehouse

Question: Which author wrote 'Lord of the Rings'?

Answer: J. R. R. Tolkien

Question: My father gave me some advice which I've been turning over in my mind ever since,' is a line from which novel?

Answer: The Great Gatsby

Question: Which Stephen is the cosmologist and author of 'A Brief History of Time'?

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Question: Which author would only write when facing north?

Answer: Charles Dickens

Question: Which novel is about a man believing he's having a heart-attack while watching football on TV?

Answer: A Fan's Notes

Question: Joseph Anton: A Memoir was a 2012 work by which author?

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Question: Jean Valjean is a character from which novel?

Answer: Les Misérables

Question: Who wrote the short story 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'?

Answer: James Thurber

Question: Molloy and Malone Dies are both novels by which author?

Answer: Samuel Beckett

Question: Wise Children was a 1991 work by which author?

Answer: Angela Carter

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line 'You better not never tell nobody but God'?

Answer: The Color Purple

Question: The 1967 Disney film 'The Jungle Book' is based on a book by which author?

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Question: The Road was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?

Answer: Cormac McCarthy

Question: Which writer created 'The Brentford Trilogy', a series of novels featuring Jim Pooley and John Omally?

Answer: Robert Rankin

Question: Which author was given the Freedom of the City of London in 2012?

Answer: J. K. Rowling

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line 'A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories'?

Answer: Brave New World

Question: Dymoke is the middle name of which author?

Answer: Anthony Powell

Question: Which author wrote works including The Eve of St Venus and The Wanting Seed?

Answer: Anthony Burgess

Question: The To The End of The Earth Trilogy is by which author?

Answer: William Golding

Question: Whose first published novel was 'The Eyre Affair'?

Answer: Jasper Fforde

Question: Which John Steinbeck novel revolves around the characters Lenny and George?

Answer: Of Mice and Men

Question: Who created 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' novels?

Answer: Douglas Adams

Question: Who wrote the novel 'The Bourne Identity'?

Answer: Robert Ludlum

Question: Who created the character Kenneth Widmerpool?

Answer: Anthony Powell

Question: In 2006, the motion picture rights for 'A Dirty Job' were optioned by who?

Answer: Chris Columbus

Question: The Club of Queer Trade was a 1905 work by which author?

Answer: GK Chesterton

Question: Which Russian author wrote novel 'Dead Souls'?

Answer: Nikolai Gogol

Question: Captain Mallison is a character from which novel?

Answer: Lost Horizon

Question: The Mandelbaum Gate was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?

Answer: Muriel Spark

Question: Who created the character George Smiley?

Answer: John le Carré

Question: Which author came up with the cream cake slogan 'naughty but nice'?

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Question: Philip Roth wrote a satire of which US President?

Answer: Richard Nixon

Question: Which mathematician authored his major work Measure and Integral in 1977?

Answer: Antoni Zygmund

Question: Lucky Jim was the first work by which author?

Answer: Kingsley Amis

Question: What novel was based on the experiences of Alexander Selkirk?

Answer: Robinson Crusoe

Question: Which author created the city of Ankh-Morpork?

Answer: Terry Pratchett

Question: Which author won the 1980 Booker Prize for Rites of Passage?

Answer: William Golding

Question: The Carpet People was the first novel by which author?

Answer: Terry Pratchett

Question: Which author wrote The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?

Answer: Douglas Adams

Question: Who wrote the spy novel 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'?

Answer: John le Carré

Question: Literary characters created by who set out on a journey from the Tabard Inn, Southwark?

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

Question: Which of these authors once worked for MI5?

Answer: John Le Carre

Question: Which author has the real first name Ahmed?

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Question: Which 19th century English author died with the words 'On the ground!''?'

Answer: Charles Dickens

Question: To Keep The Ball Rolling is the title of the published memoirs of which author?

Answer: Anthony Powell

Question: Which author wrote 'The Sun Also Rises'?

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

Question: Which author, who wrote Lord of the Rings, died in 1973?

Answer: J. R. R. Tolkien

Question: Which writer created Inspector Tom Barnaby?

Answer: Caroline Graham

Question: Which author created Shelob the Spider?

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

Question: Who wrote the novel 'Lord of the Flies'?

Answer: William Golding

Question: Which French author wrote 'The Count of Monte Cristo'?

Answer: Alexandre Dumas

Question: Which author created the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter?

Answer: Thomas Harris

Question: In which US city is 'A Dirty Job' set?

Answer: San Francisco

Question: Which female author wrote the feminist book 'The Feminine Mystique' in 1963?

Answer: Betty Freidan

Question: Winston Groom gave us which lovable hero?

Answer: Forrest Gump

Question: Which author created the fictional island nation called Lilliput?

Answer: Jonathan Swift

Question: The Authoritarian Personality is a work by which philosopher?

Answer: Theodor Adorno

Question: 1996 was the first appearance of which single lady and her big knickers?

Answer: Bridget Jones

Question: Who wrote the novel 'All Quiet On The Orient Express'?

Answer: Magnus Mills

Question: The Belton Estate is a work by which author?

Answer: Anthony Trollope

Question: The Grand Babylon Hotel is a work by which author?

Answer: Arnold Benet

Question: Westward Ho is a famous work by which author?

Answer: Charles Kingsley

Question: Who created the character Chris Duffy?

Answer: Keith Waterhouse

Question: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the real name of which author?

Answer: Lewis Carroll

Question: Which Irish author wrote 'Gulliver's Travels'?

Answer: Jonathan Swift

Question: Which famous author did Renee Zellweger play in a 2006 biopic?

Answer: Beatrix Potter

Question: Who is the author of novels about Thursday Next, a literary detective who travels into classic works of fiction?

Answer: Jasper Fforde

Question: Cakes And Ale is a novel by which author?

Answer: Somerset Maugham

Question: James Bond and Mr. Big are characters in which novel?

Answer: Live and Let Die

Question: Who wrote the funny series of books 'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'?

Answer: Douglas Adams

Question: Which author wrote On The Road?

Answer: Jack Kerouac

Question: Which author from the past was writing about the future when he penned '1984'?

Answer: George Orwell

Question: Which author's character is Dr. Temperance 'Bones'' Brennan from the TV series loosely based on?'

Answer: Kathy Reichs

Question: Which of these 1960s author was not born in the American south?

Answer: Truman Capote

Question: The Old Bachelor and the Mourning Bride are works by which author?

Answer: William Congreve

Question: Which author sets most of his work during The Cold War?

Answer: John Le Carre

Question: Young Adolf was a 1978 work by which author?

Answer: Beryl Bambridge

Question: Heathcliff is a character from which novel?

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Question: Which author wrote the controversial book 'The Satanic Verses'?

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Question: Darkness Visible was a James Tait Black Memorial prize winner by which author?

Answer: William Golding

Question: Ellis Bell was the assumed name of which author?

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

Question: Who wrote the novel 'Breakfast of Champions'?

Answer: Kurt Vonnegut

Question: Who wrote the novel 'Bridget Jones's Diary'?

Answer: Helen Fielding

Question: Which author of the following had the middle name Adeline?

Answer: Virgina Woolf

Question: Which comedian wrote 'The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee'?

Answer: Sarah Silverman

Question: Time For a Tiger was the first novel by which author?

Answer: Anthony Burgess

Question: Which was the first story to feature the character Sherlock Holmes?

Answer: A Study In Scarlet

Question: Wives and Daughters as well as Cousin Phillis were works by which author?

Answer: Elizabeth Gaskell

Question: The Bookshop and Offshore are key works by which author?

Answer: Penelope Fitzgerald

Question: In which novel is the protagonist called Winston Smith?

Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line 'All this happened, more or less'?

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

Question: Holden Caulfield appears in which novel?

Answer: The Catcher in the Rye

Question: Which author is not like the others?

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Question: Which of these is the name of a real 19th Century author?

Answer: Thomas Love Peacock

Question: Which authors final work was 'The Blue Flower'?

Answer: Penelope Fitzgerald

Question: What was the sequel to Tom Sharpe's novel 'Porterhouse Blue'?

Answer: Grantchester Grind

Question: Against what is Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' set?

Answer: Spanish Civil War

Question: Chingachoock is a character from which novel?

Answer: The Last of the Mohicans

Question: Which of these humour writers wrote columns for magazines 'Outdoor Life' and 'Field & Stream'?

Answer: Patrick F. McManus

Question: In which novel did Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson first appear?

Answer: A Study in Scarlet

Question: Who wrote the novel 'A Dirty Job'?

Answer: Christopher Moore

Question: Jem Finch is a character from which novel?

Answer: To Kill a Mockingbird

Question: Who created the fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey?

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

Question: Which American author's last words were: 'Is it not meningitis?'''

Answer: Louisa May Alcott

Question: Who wrote the story of Rip van Winkle?

Answer: Washington Irving

Question: Published in 1900 and about a cycling tour in Germany, what was the sequel to Three Men in a Boat?

Answer: Three Men on the Bummel

Question: Which detective features in the stories 'The Nine Tailors' and 'Murder Must Advertise'?

Answer: Lord Peter Wimsey

Question: In which novel do Carruthers and Davies discover a German plan to attack Britain while on a yachting holiday?

Answer: The Riddle of the Sands

Question: Which novel features a group of choirboys led by Jack Merridew?

Answer: Lord of the Flies

Question: Which infamous movie villain was originally created by American horror/thriller author Thomas Harris?

Answer: Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

Question: In which book did the Babel fish first appear?

Answer: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Question: Who wrote the novel 'Gorky Park'?

Answer: Martin Cruz Smith

Question: Which book contains the line 'perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one'?

Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Question: At what address did Sherlock Holmes live?

Answer: 221B Baker Street

Question: What is the name of the anti-slavery novel written by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852?

Answer: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Question: Arthur Dent is the protagonist of which of these novels?

Answer: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Question: The name of the TV programme 'Room 101' is taken from which George Orwell novel?

Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Question: Which classic novel opens with the line 'Ships at a distance have every man's wishes on board'?

Answer: Their Eyes Were Watching God