Stateside Writing Trivia Quiz

Answer: California

John Steinbeck was born to German immigrants in Salinas, California, which was a center for agricultural growing and trading. He studied at Stanford for a while and traveled around the U.S. as he worked on his writing. His first novel, "Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History" was a pirate adventure story published in 1929.

This image is of California poppies, the state flower. It is illegal to pick this flower.

Answer: Georgia

O'Connor wrote with passion, and critics have said she may have been influenced by knowing she had a serious disease, lupus. Her story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is often anthologized. Its theme, that divine grace can be found everywhere, even behind violence, is a tenet of the southern Gothic movement.

This image is of a peach tree; George is known as the peach state.

Answer: Iowa

Des Moines is the capital of Iowa and the home town of Bill Bryson, who has written multiple books, with "Notes from a Small Island" a particularly popular one. He traveled to Europe while on a break from college, and fell in love with a British psychiatrist nurse. They married, and he has split his time between the U.S. and the U.K.

Not all Iowans (my mother included) like being associated with corn, but Iowa corn really is delicious! Iowa produces more corn than any other state, generally.

Answer: Louisiana

Anne Rice was born in New Orleans, "The Big Easy" city in Louisiana. Although she lived and studied in San Francisco and Berkeley, she returned to New Orleans after finding success as a published writer. Louisiana is a state largely influenced by the giant Mississippi River that runs through it, as well as its Cajun and Creole roots. Cajuns are descendants of French who settled in the area in the late 1600s. Creole refers to people with background that mixes French, African, Spanish, and Native American culture and can include other European heritages as well.

This image is of a bayou, or a marsh.

Answer: Massachusetts

Massachusetts is one of the original colonies and is rich with American history; American students learn how the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. Hawthorne was born in Salem in 1804, the son of a sea captain who died when Nathaniel was young. An uncle watched over him and sent him to college at Bowdoin.

Hawthorne wrote the literary classic "The Scarlet Letter."

Answer: Virginia

Virginia has been the setting for many important vents in U.S. history. Cather was the eldest of seven and a sixth-generation Virginian on her father's side. Despite those deep roots, the family relocated to Nebraska. Cather began her writing career with a magazine, then moved to short stories and novels. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1922 novel "One of Ours."

This image is of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth I was known as the Virgin Queen.

Answer: Missouri

Mark Twain was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri. It had fewer than 100 people at the time of his birth in 1835, and has been considered essentially uninhabited for decades. Missouri was a launching point for the U.S.'s westward expansion. Though not a flashy state, Missouri has spawned many people important to American culture, including Chuck Berry, T.S. Eliot, Walt Disney, and of course Twain.

This is a picture of a famous U.S. landmark, the St. Louis arch.

Answer: Washington, D.C.

The United States is made up of 50 states plus one district, and that district is the District of Columbia, also called Washington, D.C. Named after the first President, George Washington, D.C. was described by another president, John F. Kennedy, as "a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." This is funny to people who understand the perceptions of the two regions, as Southerners are considering charming and Northerners are considered no-nonsense do-ers. Michael Chabon was born to a lawyer mother and a doctor/lawyer father in 1963. He has won the O. Henry Award, a Pulitzer, and a Hugo.

This is an image of some of the most famous residents of Washington, D.C., from the National Zoo.

Answer: Oklahoma

Oklahoma is called "The Sooner State" because of the people who rushed in sooner than expected to claim land. Ellison lost his literature-loving father as a boy, and the family stayed afloat financially while Ellison worked as a busboy, a waiter, and a dentist's assistant. He was admitted at age 20 to the famous Tuskegee Institute.

The musical "Oklahoma!" has a famous song in it titled "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top."

Answer: Maine

Stephen King has set many of his novels in Maine, where he was born in 1947. He has reported his deep affection for his state, but not so much for the small town of Durham, where he spent a rough part of his childhood. His father had left the family, and his mother worked very hard to support Stephen and his brother David. King graduated from the University of Maine. He is married to writer Tabitha King and two of his three children are also published writers.

Maine is also known for its seafood, particularly its lobsters.