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Authors by Picture

Can you identify these famous authors based on a photo, painting, or sculpture?
To make it easier we give you their nationality according to Wikipedia
One of these is legendary, not historical
Quiz idea: KingoftheBritons
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: June 28, 2022
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First submittedJuly 5, 2018
Times taken20,916
Average score62.5%
Rating4.35
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Russian, 1828–1910
American, 1835–1910
English, 1812–1870
British, 1965–
English, 1564–1616
American, 1809–1849
English, 1947–
American, 1947–
English, 1882–1941
American, 1899–1961
Irish, 1882–1941
American, 1922–1969
Irish, 1854-1900
Greek, ?
French, 1694–1778
English, 1890–1976
+1
Level 77
Jul 5, 2018
I am rather ashamed I didn't get either of the women. Although the first one did look very familiar.
+8
Level 83
Jul 6, 2018
There are three women in the quiz.
+3
Level 77
Jul 5, 2018
Dear God, J.K. Rowling is at the second place...
+11
Level 70
Jul 5, 2018
I rather wonder that she is not number one. I bet most persons below 30 have read more books from her than from all the others together. :-P
+31
Level 77
Jul 8, 2018
Yes, she's the most famous female modern author, and richest author in the world. Plus is still in the public eye, unlike Shakespeare who hasn't sent out a tweet in years.
+8
Level 88
Jul 5, 2018
It just goes to show how many plebeians there are in the world!!! I have never even heard of JK Rowling... but I got Voltaire without even seeing his picture!!! If only everyone was as smart as me!
+24
Level 77
Jul 8, 2018
I am smarter than you. I got both.
+4
Level 69
Jul 9, 2018
I went through all the Greeks. except Homer, the obvious one! Great quiz though!
+12
Level 79
Jul 10, 2018
that must have taken a while
+9
Level 65
Oct 14, 2018
J.K. Rowling does not belong among those other authors. She wrote fantasy tales for children. I know it's a weird gripe to have, but it pisses me off when I see her on lots of famous authors as if she's historically significant at all.
+20
Level 60
Oct 14, 2018
Yet you have no problem with a contemporary male horror writer or a crime novelist?
+21
Level 67
Oct 14, 2018
And it pisses me off that your elitism blinds you to Rowling's historical significance. Lord of the Rings is a fantasy too. And if you think only children read Harry Potter...well, I'm not really sure what to tell you.
+13
Level 73
Oct 15, 2018
99% of the criticism she gets is "I haven't read her books, therefore they can't be any good".
+1
Level 39
Aug 13, 2020
I think Lord of the Rings is better...😐
+11
Level 89
Jul 22, 2022
Whether you like her or not, you can't deny that her books made a huge cultural impact.
+2
Level 76
Jul 22, 2022
Something being popular hardly means it's culturally relevant in the long term. I have read most HP books. Their relevance lies in getting a lot of kids to read, for which she's to be commended, even if this achievement is offset by the fact many (most?) of those kids remained within the boundaries of easy, commercial YA/Bestseller type books. That kind of people, not knowing any better, tend to end up thinking Rowling is among the most important authors ever. Or that her work is comparable in quality and influence to Tolkien's, only on the very surface "it's fantasy" perspective.

Edit: To illustrate my point about some HP readers, not half an hour after typing, I run into this comment for a quiz entry about a Chosen One starting with M:

"I kept trying to figure out how to spell Harry Potter with an 'M'."

If your main reference for the old as dirt concept of a chosen one is HP, I'd guess you're not very well read.

Sure, it's a coincidence, but this kind of comment is quite prevalent.

+1
Level 83
Dec 16, 2022
"something being popular hardly means it's culturally relevant in the long term" I don't know how you're defining 'long-term'. But I can't think of very many books in general, not just children's books, from the 90s that are still talked about so much today,
+9
Level 45
Oct 16, 2018
She was the first author to become a billionaire based solely off of her stories. I'd say that's pretty historically significant.
+5
Level 88
Sep 29, 2019
Population, inflation, global communication, etc. will always work in favor of later works.

What I want to know is, what has Rushdie ever done except become a poster boy because the Muslim world issued death threats against him for a book that would've otherwise been a minor seller?

+4
Level 79
Dec 9, 2021
Rushdie, in addition to being a wonderful writer (a subjective statement that many others would agree with), has explored the interactions and tensions between the Eastern and Western world. His English writing about India has opened the subcontinent to a wider Western audience. He was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his services to literature if that says anything about how he's more than a 'poster boy'.
+1
Level 71
Jul 22, 2022
Yeah Salman Rushdie is honestly a great author. The Satanic Verses gets all the attention, but his real masterpiece is Midnight's Children. I recommend giving it a try.
+8
Level 73
Mar 28, 2019
I have read a couple of her books and I'm over 60. I wanted to at least have a clue about the genre. It isn't what I would pick up first to read today, but I dare say that the Hardy Boys books that I grew up on wouldn't appeal to many people today either and many people have never heard of Pearl Buck even though she is one of the all-time greats in my opinion. Anything that gets kids of any age reading is okay by me. Innocent fantasy stories like her books build imagination. Whether her work will be historically significant or not can only be judged by time. I just hope that there will be an author in the next generation who can inspire people to continue to read.
+7
Level 77
Jul 22, 2022
I don’t think this quiz is comparing the quality of authors included. I mean, no one would actually compare Tolstoy to Rowling. Harry Potter is widely popular, frivolous fun, and Tolstoy’s works have significantly less child-friendly wizard rompery. Anyway, Rowling seems fair game for a famous authors quiz as much as Michael Bay is fair game for a famous directors quiz. I will point out, though, that the quiz left out one of the best living authors: Margaret Atwood! Maybe one day.
+4
Level 67
Jul 22, 2022
You obviously haven't read the first draft of War and Peace. Rompery abounds.
+2
Level 81
Dec 13, 2022
Even the final draft still has Napoleon's wizard bodyguard who fights Pierre
+3
Level 65
Jul 22, 2022
Oooo nice misogyny!
+2
Level 45
Jul 22, 2022
Your elitism is truly cringeworthy to the highest degree
+2
Level 43
Oct 14, 2018
Tolstoj should be accepted as well, just sayin
+4
Level 78
Oct 14, 2018
That would work in Dutch, Danish, German, Polish, and probably a couple of other languages. In English, j produces a different sound.
+1
Level 62
Dec 5, 2018
Isn't Rowling Scottish ?
+3
Level 66
Nov 15, 2019
She was born and raised in England and moved to Scotland in her late 20s. So probably not, but maybe, since there's no legal distinction between Scottish and English.
+3
Level 76
Jan 30, 2020
She was born in England, but lives in Scotland and intends to stay there. She considers herself an immigrant to Scotland.
+2
Level 65
Apr 16, 2019
yessss!! i'm just too happy that i was able to remember my favorite murder mystery writer!
+1
Level 49
Dec 21, 2020
wait, was homer not real???
+2
Level 59
Jan 4, 2021
why isn't Suzanne Collins on here lol
+2
Level 65
Mar 4, 2021
Tell me why, is Rushdie looking at me like that?!
+1
Level 79
Mar 5, 2021
I only miss'd Homer Simpson 😬
+1
Level 22
Jul 13, 2022
Am I mad for trying toblerone for Homer?????
+5
Level 82
Jul 22, 2022
Most of these people don't look at all like Ernest Hemingway.
+1
Level 71
Jul 26, 2022
I got to Rowling before I realised that wasn't what the quiz was about
+1
Level 75
Jul 22, 2022
I was about to nitpick that Homer wasn't really an author but more of a songwriter, but then I read his Wikipedia page (first line: "...the legendary author to whom the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey ...") and decided to just accept it and not be so silly.
+1
Level 83
Jul 22, 2022
Needs more Terry Pratchett
+1
Level 78
Jul 22, 2022
Nice selection, nearly all my favorites made the cut.
+1
Level 49
Jul 24, 2022
Hmm. Only now realized I had no idea what Jack Kerouac looked like.
+1
Level 60
Sep 9, 2022
OMG how did I get Jack Kerouac?!?! I had NO clue who the guy was, or what he looked like. I just remember vaguely that Jack Kerouac is the name of an author. That's IT! I didn't even know what era he lived in. I'm just sitting here in happy shock 😲 😄
+2
Level 66
Dec 12, 2022
Am I the only one who thinks Oscar Wilde looks like Hugh Grant?
+1
Level 65
Jan 20, 2023
Spelling Keraououcaiuss’s name nearly got me.