Fragmented Authors Trivia Quiz

Answer: Austen

Jane Austen was born in Hampshire, England in December 1775. The severe winter weather that year caused her baptism to be delayed until the following April, when she was baptised at the local church where her father served as rector, and given the single name Jane.

Her six major novels, which have remained ever popular, are "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", "Emma", "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion". The latter two were published posthumously in 1818, but every one of these novels was originally published anonymously, meaning she received little recognition during her lifetime.

Answer: Shakespeare

There can be few people who haven't come across the works of William Shakespeare during their formative years. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, this English playwright authored 39 known plays in addition to numerous sonnets, and is considered by many to be the world's greatest ever dramatist.

In 1582 at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, and three children were born to them, Susanna the eldest and also twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet was only eleven years old when he died in 1596, possibly having contracted bubonic plague. It has been suggested by some Shakespearean scholars that Hamnet's death may have influenced his writing of the play "Hamlet" and also "King John" and "Twelfth Night".

Answer: Patterson

The American author James Patterson has written extensively in various genres, particularly crime, mystery and thriller novels. However, he has also published several series of fantasy novels for young adults, and also a number of non-fiction books. In 2016, he was listed by the American business magazine 'Forbes' as being the highest-paid author for the third consecutive year.

He was born in Newburgh, New York in 1947. His academic years led him to graduate with a B.A. in English from Manhattan College and an M.A. in English from Vanderbilt University.

He is married to Susan with whom he has a son Jack, born in 1985.

Answer: Carroll

Lewis Carroll was born as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832, in the small village of Daresbury in Cheshire, England. His father was a Church of England cleric, who became the Archdeacon of Richmond in 1854. Young Charles was educated at home during his early years, until when twelve years old in 1844, he was sent to Richmond Grammar School, and then in 1846 to Rugby School where he remained for three years.

Next came Oxford University, and entrance to Christ Church College, following in the footsteps of his father who had previously studied there. He was an extremely talented mathematician, and in 1855 won the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship. He then remained at the College serving in various capacities until his death in 1898.

He was a gifted mathematician but also excelled in other fields, from an early age he was writing poetry and children's fantasy stories. His best known novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published in 1865, followed by its sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" in 1871. The nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" was also included in the latter novel.

Answer: Hemingway

American novelist Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago. During the First World War he enlisted as an ambulance driver, serving on the Italian Front, but was seriously injured in 1918 and had to return home. His novel "A Farewell to Arms" published in 1929, is based on his wartime experiences there.

Similarly, his 1940 novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is largely based on his time spent as a journalist, whilst reporting from the Spanish Civil War.

His final major novel was "The Old Man and the Sea" published in 1952, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the citation reading: "For his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style".

Answer: Rowling

Born in 1953 with the birth name Joanne Rowling, this British author most famously writes under the pen name J.K.Rowling for her novels aimed at young adults, then also as Robert Galbraith for her crime and adult novels. Her seven fantasy novels based on the young wizard Harry Potter took the literary world by storm, and have now become the most successful series of books ever written in terms of copies sold.

The first in the series "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was published in 1997, whilst the final book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" made its appearance in 2007.

More success was to follow, with each of the novels being reproduced in a series of blockbuster films between 2001 and 2011, with the final novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", providing a story line for two such films.

Answer: Lovecraft

American writer Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1890. He remained in Rhode Island throughout much of his life, and after contracting cancer, died there in 1937 aged 46. He specialized in writing horror fiction, science fiction, gothic fiction and fantasy fiction, but received little recognition during his lifetime and died in poverty.

He married pulp-fiction writer Sonia Greene in 1924, moving into her apartment in Brooklyn, but, owing mainly to financial insecurity, they parted a few years later and Lovecraft returned to Rhode Island.

"The Rats in the Walls", "The Call of Cthulhu" and "At the Mountains of Madness" are three of the novels for which he achieved fame posthumously, and he is now regarded in high esteem as an author of 20th century horror and 'weird' fiction.

Answer: Chesterton

The English writer Gilbert Keith (G.K.) Chesterton was born in 1874 in Kensington, London. After attending St Paul's Independent School in London, he was accepted by the Slade School of Art, attached to University College London, where he studied literature. He married English author Frances Blogg in 1901, to whom he remained married throughout his life. She died in 1938, just two years after the death of her husband.

His books "Orthodoxy" in 1908 and "The Everlasting Man" published in 1925, both classics of Christian Apologetics, reflect his Christian and later Catholic beliefs, but he is best remembered for the creation of the fictional Roman Catholic priest-detective Father Brown. This character first appeared in "The Blue Cross" published in 1910, and then in another 52 short stories until 1936. Father Brown has since appeared as the central character in films, radio and numerous television series filmed since the author's death.

Answer: Wordsworth

William Wordsworth is credited with introducing the Romantic Age into English literature together with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, following their joint publication of "Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems" in 1798. He was born in 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, an area in the Lake District now synonymous with Wordsworth.

Between 1799 and 1808 he lived with his sister Dorothy in Dove Cottage near the village of Grasmere, in the Lake District. It was there that he wrote some of his most memorable poetry such as "My Heart Leaps Up" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" now commonly referred to as "Daffodils."

In 1843 he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, a position which he held until his death in 1850.

Answer: Christie

Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in 1890, she has been dubbed "The Queen of Crime" in recognition of writing more than 60 detective novels as Agatha Christie between 1920 and 1976. The surname taken when marrying Archibald Christie in 1914, from whom she was eventually divorced in 1928. Additionally, she also wrote six romantic novels, using the pen name Mary Westmacott.

Her most successful novels centred around the fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, whose popularity continues to this day, not only in her novels but also in multiple films and television series.

She also wrote the murder mystery play titled "The Mousetrap" which premiered on the West End London stage in 1952, which became the longest running play in history, recording its 25,000th performance on 18th November 2012.

In 1971, at the age of 81, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her life long achievements in the world of literature.