You Are Never Too Old To Start, Write?! Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Anna Sewell was 57 when her first and only novel was published. What is this children's classic that is written from the perspective of a horse?

Answer: Black Beauty

Anna Sewell was born in England in 1820. At age 12, she hurt her ankles and was bound to crutches or carriages for the rest of her life. This is when she came to love horses and worried about the inhumane treatment of them. Still living at home, she wrote the book "Black Beauty" between 1871 and 1877. Often she would have to write from her bed or have her mother transcribe.

The book is told through the horse's point of view and teaches empathy for work horses. With over 50 million copies sold, it is one of the best selling books of all time. Sewell died just months after its publication, but lived long enough to see the start of its success.

2. The book "Dracula" was published in 1897. It is one of the most famous pieces of English literature and details the story of Count Dracula, a Transylvanian noble and a vampire. Who is the author, who wrote this first fictional book at age 50?

Answer: Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker was born in 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. For many years he was a theater critic as well as the author of short stories and various books about English coastal towns he visited. Many theories abound as to how Stoker got the idea of the bloodthirsty vampire (friends from Carpathia, learning of Vlad the Impaler, etc.) but he never recorded the exact reason. Regardless, this 1897 collection of fictional diary entries, letters, and clippings about the meetings, travels, and death of Dracula turned into a part of popular culture and inspired stories and films. Stoker died in 1912 after a series of strokes.

3. Frank McCourt wrote the bestselling memoir called "Angela's Ashes" when he was 66 and retired. It's the true story of him as a small child in Brooklyn, New York and many years with his family in Limerick during the Great Depression. In what country was the majority of the novel set?

Answer: Ireland

Frank McCourt was born in 1930 in New York. When he was four, in the middle of the Great Depression, the family moved back to Ireland. They lived in poverty in the slums and witnessed death, alcoholism, and near-starvation. At age 19, McCourt sailed to America and went on to a long teaching career.

When he retired, he wrote his memoirs in the book "Angela's Ashes". It went on to receive a Pulitzer Prize and spun off a movie. The book talked about life in the Irish slums and the challenges his family fought daily. McCourt died from cancer in 2009.

4. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a very successful author of the "Little House" series of children's books. She did not publish the first in this series until she was 65, in the year 1932. What was the title of this first book in the nine book series?

Answer: Little House in the Big Woods

Laura Ingalls was born in 1867 in Wisconsin. The family moved several times throughout her childhood and she worked teaching positions since she was 16 years old. At age 18, she married Almanzo Wilder in South Dakota. By 1894, they were settled in Missouri and farmed the land they called Rocky Ridge. Laura was a newspaper columnist since 1911, and, with her daughter's encouragement, began writing books during the Great Depression.

Her first book, "Little House in the Big Woods", introduced readers to Ma and Pa as well as stories of hard work, family, and fun.

It became one of the "Teacher's Top 100 Books for Children". Wilder went on to write eight more books in her semi-autobiographical series. She died in 1957 three days shy of her 90th birthday.

5. The novel "The Big Sleep", written by Raymond Chandler, was published in 1939 when Chandler was 51 years old. What LA detective was introduced to the world in that book, considered one of the greatest detective novels in Anglo-American literature?

Answer: Philip Marlowe

Raymond Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to the UK in his 20s and began writing for various newspapers. He moved back to the United States and ended up in Los Angeles working for an oil syndicate. He wrote his first novel, "The Big Sleep", in 1939 and it featured a detective named Philip Marlowe.

He was an educated, streetwise private eye who helped solve extortion, kidnapping, and murder. This book set the stage for the action packed detective thriller genre. Chandler died in 1959 after having written seven successful books, most of which were turned into movies.

6. Richard Adams published his classic novel "Watership Down" in 1972 when he was 52 years old. This debut book follows a group of animals who have created their own myths and culture to make sense of the world. What kind of animals were these?

Answer: Rabbits

Richard Adams was born in Berkshire, England in 1920. After college and the armed services, he worked for many years in the British Civil Service. During this time, he wrote stories that he would read to his children and grandchildren. He took two years to write "Watership Down", at his children's insistence, and it was published in 1972 after multiple rejections.

It is a fantasy adventure novel set in England and traces a group of rabbits who are seeking a new home, led by a young rabbit named Fiver.

It mirrors humans' struggle to build a new society. Adams wrote a few more books and traveled widely up through his early 90s. He died in 2016 at the age of 96.

7. Marjory Stoneman Douglas was a journalist, a conservationist, and a supporter of women's suffrage. She was 57 when her book, subtitled "River of Grass", was published and became a groundbreaking call to action. What Florida swamp did she write about?

Answer: The Everglades

Marjory Stoneman was born in 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After college and a failed marriage to Kenneth Douglas, she moved to southern Florida when there were only a few thousand people living in Miami. During the 1920s and 1930s, she was a freelance reporter for various newspapers and magazines and became involved in the theater. Very interested in the Everglades swamp, she spent five years researching it and published her first book entitled "The Everglades: River of Grass" in 1947.

The first sentence, "There are no other Everglades in the world", still welcomes visitors to the Park every year. The book became a call to action for people to take notice of the environment and their relationship with it. Marjory, at age 103, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and died in her beloved Florida at age 108.

8. Daniel Defoe wrote many pamphlets, journals, and books. His first fictional novel was written in 1719 when he was just shy of 60 years old. It's the story of a man shipwrecked on a desert island. What is the name of this tome?

Answer: Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Dafoe was born in London around the fall of 1660. After school, he dabbled in various businesses and got thrown in debtors' prison at least once. During the early 1700s he wrote controversial political and religious pamphlets for both England and Scotland. Starting in his late fifties, he began to write fiction.

His first book was "Robinson Crusoe". It is about a man shipwrecked on an island and how he survives. He befriends a local cannibal and lives for over 25 years on the fruits of the island and his wiles before being rescued.

By the end of 1719, the book had already run through multiple editions. Dafoe continued to write, even under pen names, until his death in 1731.

9. The book called "Stones for Ibarra" was published in 1984 and won a National Book Award for first work of fiction. The author had finished college at 67 and written the book at age 74. Who is she?

Answer: Harriet Doerr

Harriet Huntington was born in 1910 in California. She left college in her junior year to marry Albert Doerr. Starting in 1935, she moved with Albert to Mexico where he was restoring a copper mine that had been in his family. After he died in 1972 Harriet returned to California and later finished her college education.

Her first novel was "Stones for Ibaraa" and was based on her life in Mexico. It is about a couple living in Mexico at a mine and their relationships with the locals. Both sides learn much from the other. Doerr wrote stories and another novel before she became blind.

She died in 2002 at age 92.

10. Mary Ann Evans was 52 when her most acclaimed novel, "Middlemarch", was published in 1871. Most people know her by her pen name, however. What was it?

Answer: George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans was born in 1819 in England. Her mother died when Mary was 17, and later she and her father moved to Coventry (which would later be used as an inspiration for her famous novel "Middlemarch"). In the 1850s, she travelled extensively and then was an editor in London where she met George Lewes. Lewes encouraged her to write and to use a pen name of George Eliot.

She wrote several novels before her most famous book ("Middlemarch") was published. The book encompassed four subplots concerning an orphan, an aspiring doctor, an aspiring romance, and the downfall of a banker. Mary Ann died in 1880 from a kidney disease.

Source: Author stephgm67

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LeoDaVinci before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The authors in this quiz prove that imagination and skill do not necessarily wane as one ages. The people here were at least fifty years old when they wrote their best selling novel. Come learn a little more about them and their literary creations.

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