15 Most Famous Authors of all Time

15 Most Famous Authors of All Time

Originally published by Lynn on March 2022. Edited by Charity K on May 2023.

When writing about famous writers, the old saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” can’t help but pop into mind. These authors have had a more profound impact on society than any war or battle in life. Words that were written centuries ago in a given city are today being read by different people from all over the world. These books have shaped and defined the lives of so many people.

The interesting thing about books is that each of us has a unique view of what the book is talking about, we might all read a similar book, but our interpretation of the book will vary depending on our experience and other personal factors. With this in mind, here are the 15 most famous authors of all time; 

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1. William Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice poster – Flickr

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist. Shakespeare’s work has made a lasting impression in particular; he expanded the dramatic potential of characterization, plot, language, and genre.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The date of his birth is unknown but is traditionally observed on 23 April, Saint George’s Day. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays,154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.

His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. We highly recommend you read all of his books, but as a personal favorite, we highly recommend The Merchant of Venice.

2. Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens – Wikipedia

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic who created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Dickens’s approach to the novel is influenced by various things, including the picaresque novel tradition, melodrama, and the novel of sensibility.

He was born in Portsmouth, England on 7^th February 1812 and began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children’s rights, for education, and for other social reforms.

Dickson’s must-read novels include Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol.

3. Agatha Christie

Agatha Christine – Flickr

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

Agatha was born on 15 September 1890, into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon. She is credited with writing the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

And Then There Were None is Christie’s best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, making it the world’s best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time.

4. Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky,1876- Wikimedia Commons

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist. His literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes.

He was born in Moscow in 1821. His 864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. Dostoevsky’s body of works consists of 12 novels, four novellas, 16 short stories, and numerous other works.

His books have been translated into more than 170 languages and served as the basis for many films. A must-read is his novel Crime and Punishment which describes the fictional Rodion Raskolnikov’s life, from the murder of a pawnbroker and her sister, through spiritual regeneration with the help and love of Sonya

5. William Faulkner

William Faulkner – Wikipedia

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based in Lafayette County, Mississippi. He was known for his experimental style, with meticulous attention to diction and cadence. Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and is widely considered one of the best writers of Southern literature.

He was born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 1897. In 1949, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for “his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel”. William Faulkner wrote numerous novels, screenplays, poems, and short stories. Today he is best remembered for his novels The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936).

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6. Toni Morris

Toni Morrison – Wikimedia

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, popularly known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist whose works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States. She was born February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, U.S.

The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 for her novels, characterized by visionary force and poetic import, giving life to an essential aspect of American reality.

We highly recommend reading one of her books because her use of fantasy, her sinuous poetic style, and her rich interweaving of the mythic gave her stories great strength and texture.

7. Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy – Wikipedia

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. His fiction includes dozens of short stories and several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Family Happiness (1859), “After the Ball” (1911), and Hadji Murad (1912). He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays.

He received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909. That he never won is a major controversy.

Today Tolstoy is best known for his two longest works, War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77), which are commonly regarded as among the finest novels ever written. War and Peace in particular seems virtually to define this form for many readers and critics.

8. James Joyce

James Joyce – Wikipedia

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, and literary critic who contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.

Joyce’s novel Ulysses (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, most famously stream of consciousness.

9. Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe – Flickr

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. He is often referred to as the “father of African literature”, although he vigorously rejected the characterization.

Achebe’s books sought to escape the colonial perspective that framed African literature at the time and drew from the traditions of the Igbo people, Christian influences, and the clash of Western and African values to create a uniquely African voice.

We highly recommend reading Things Fall Apart, which depicts pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the invasion by Europeans during the late 19th century.

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10. Adeline Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf – Flickr

 Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.

She became one of the central subjects of the 1970s movement of feminist criticism because Woolf argued that women’s experience, particularly in the women’s movement, could be the basis for transformative social change.

Her best-known works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928).

11. J.K. Rowling

Joanne Rowling is a British author and philanthropist. She is known for the worldwide sensation Harry Potter which is a seven-volume children’s fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007.

The series has sold over 600 million copies and has been translated into 84 languages. Her first novel for adults was Casual Vacancy which reached number 1 on the Amazon Book chart in the United States. With 2.6 million copies sold it became the fastest-selling book in history.

12. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose works include short stories, novels, and nonfiction. The Time Literary Supplement describes her as the most prominent among young anglophone authors. 

Chimamanda has written the novels Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus, Zikora, Notes on Grief, and Americanah. Her short story The Thing Around Your Neck, and the essay We Should All Be Feminists.

She had been recipient of numerous accolades including a MacArthur Genius Grant, and the PEN Pinter Prize, and in 2021, she was recognized as one of the BBC’s 100 women.

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13. Stephen King

Pinguino Kolb, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, crime, science-fiction, supernatural fiction, suspense, and fantasy novels. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and many have been adapted into films, television series, comic books, and miniseries.

Stephen has published 64 novels and five non-fiction books including seven he published under the pen name Richard Bachman. He has received the World Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, and British Fantasy Society Awards.

In 2003, he was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.

14. Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. She is known for her novel White Teeth which instantly became a best-seller and won numerous awards. 

She is a professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University since September 2010. Her most recent novel Swing Time was published in November 2016. It depicts Zadie’s childhood love of tap dancing.

15. Colleen Hoover

Margaret Colleen Fennell also known by her pen name Colleen Hoover is an American author who writes novels in the romance and young adult fiction genres.

She grew to fame through her 2016 romance novel It Ends With Us which sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 20 languages.

Even though she is famous among the young generation, she has been able to spread awareness on tough topics that are often avoided by most authors.

Collen has sold approximately 20 million books and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.

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