Authors and their Pen Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: John le Carré

The British author David John Moore Cornwell, under his pen name of John le Carré, created the fictional spy George Smiley who appeared in nine of his novels from 1961-2017. He also wrote a series of standalone novels and shorts stories before his death in 2020 at the age of 89 years.

Answer: P.L. Travers

The Australian author Helen Lyndon Goff took the pen name of P.L. Travers (Pamela Lyndon) when she emigrated to England in 1924. Her first book in the "Mary Poppins" series, that she is well known for, was published in 1934 and the final one in 1988, eight in total. She also wrote non-fiction as well as other fiction books.

Answer: Lemony Snicket

The American author Daniel Handler has written books under his own name and a series of books under the pen name of Lemony Snicket, who is also the narrator of the thirteen books in "A Series of Unfortunate Events". Although designed as children's books, the series contain dark gothic humor.

Answer: Barbara Vine

The English author Ruth Barbara Rendell wrote 24 novels featuring detective Chief Inspector Wexford between 1964 and 2013 as well as short stories, standalone novels and novellas. Another series of suspense novels were written under the pen name Barbara Vine (from her middle name and her great grandmother's maiden name).

Answer: Mary Westmacott

Dame Agatha Christie, famous for her detectives Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, also wrote a series of six novels under the pen name Mary Westmacott, examining human psychology. The name Mary was taken from her middle name and Westmacott from distant relatives. Amazingly, she managed to keep her identity secret for over 20 years!

Answer: Robert Galbraith

After writing one of the most successful series of books worldwide with "Harry Potter", J. K. Rowling (her pen name), decided to turn to writing crime fiction starting with "The Casual Vacancy", and then with the "Cormoran Strike" series, under the pen name Robert Galbraith. When it was finally revealed that she was indeed the author, the book sales increased dramatically.

Answer: Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi was a Belgian cartoonist, best known for the 24 comic albums "The Adventures of Tintin" (1929-1983) under the pen name of Hergé. After experimenting with a few pen names, he decided on Hergé from reversing two of his initials ("R" and "G"). He also created the comic strips of "Quick & Flupke", "Jo, Zette & Jocko" and "Tom and Millie".

Answer: Richard Bachman

Richard Bachman is the pen name of Stephen King, the successful American horror and crime writer. He wrote seven novels between 1977 and 2007 under this pseudonym, which was originally meant to be Gus Pillsbury but changed, due to it being found out that it was King as the author.

Answer: A.M. Barnard

Before becoming famous for her "Little Women" novel and its sequels, Louisa May Alcott wrote a series of three psychological thriller novellas under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard - "Behind a Mask, or A Woman's Power", "The Abbott's Ghost" and "A Long Fatal Love Chase". The family were suffering financially, so she had turned to short story writing to help them out.

Answer: O. Henry

The American short story author William Sydney Porter is better known under his pen name O. Henry. Throughout his career, he tried a number of pen names including Oliver Henry, Howard Clark, James L. Bliss and T.B. Dowd but "O. Henry" had the most success. His short stories are well known for the surprise twists he incorporates into the narrative.