author
Other forms: authors; authorized; authored; authoring
An author is a person who writes books or articles, usually for money. It can also refer to the person responsible for something, like the author of a plan to overthrow the student government.
Author comes from the Latin word auctorem, meaning "founder, master, leader." Bow down to the author! Well, no need for that, just make sure the author gets credit. Author usually refers to a professional writer. In fact, author can be used interchangeably with the word writer. But author packs a little more punch — an author is involved in the creation of the work and generating the ideas behind it; strictly speaking, a writer could just execute the written product.
Definitions of author
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a person who writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)synonyms: writerexamples:Conrad Potter AikenUnited States writer (1889-1973)Horatio AlgerUnited States author of inspirational adventure stories for boys; virtue and hard work overcome poverty (1832-1899)Nelson AlgrenUnited States writer (1909-1981)Hans Christian Andersena Danish author remembered for his fairy stories (1805-1875)Sherwood AndersonUnited States author whose works were frequently autobiographical (1876-1941)Louis AragonFrench writer who generalized surrealism to literature (1897-1982)Shalom AschUnited States writer (born in Poland) who wrote in Yiddish (1880-1957)Isaac AsimovUnited States writer (born in Russia) noted for his science fiction (1920-1992)Louis Stanton AuchinclossUnited States writer (born in 1917)Jane AustenEnglish novelist noted for her insightful portrayals of middle-class families (1775-1817)James Arthur BaldwinUnited States author who was an outspoken critic of racism (1924-1987)Imamu Amiri BarakaUnited States writer of poems and plays about racial conflict (born in 1934)John Simmons BarthUnited States novelist (born in 1930)Donald BarthelmeUnited States author of sometimes surrealistic stories (1931-1989)Lyman Frank BrownUnited States writer of children's books (1856-1919)Simone de BeauvoirFrench feminist and existentialist and novelist (1908-1986)Samuel Becketta playwright and novelist (born in Ireland) who lived in France; wrote plays for the theater of the absurd (1906-1989)Sir Henry Maxmilian BeerbohmEnglish writer and caricaturist (1872-1956)Joseph Hilaire Peter BellocEnglish author (born in France) remembered especially for his verse for children (1870-1953)Solomon BellowUnited States author (born in Canada) whose novels influenced American literature after World War II (1915-2005)Robert Charles BenchleyUnited States humorist (1889-1945)William Rose BenetUnited States writer; brother of Stephen Vincent Benet (1886-1950)Ambrose Gwinett BierceUnited States writer of caustic wit (1842-1914)Heinrich Theodor BoellGerman novelist and writer of short stories (1917-1985)Arna Wendell BontempsUnited States writer (1902-1973)Jorge Luis BorgesArgentinian writer remembered for his short stories (1899-1986)James BoswellScottish author noted for his biography of Samuel Johnson (1740-1795)Kay BoyleUnited States writer (1902-1992)Ray Douglas BradburyUnited States writer of science fiction (born 1920)Charlotte BronteEnglish novelist; oldest of three Bronte sisters (1816-1855)Emily Jane BronteEnglish novelist; one of three Bronte sisters (1818-1848)Anne BronteEnglish novelist; youngest of three Bronte sisters (1820-1849)Charles Farrar BrowneUnited States writer of humorous tales of an itinerant showman (1834-1867)Pearl Sydenstricker BuckUnited States author whose novels drew on her experiences as a missionary in China (1892-1973)John BunyanEnglish preacher and author of an allegorical novel, Pilgrim's Progress (1628-1688)Anthony BurgessEnglish writer of satirical novels (1917-1993)Frances Eliza Hodgson BurnettUnited States writer (born in England) remembered for her novels for children (1849-1924)Edgar Rice BurroughsUnited States novelist and author of the Tarzan stories (1875-1950)William Seward BurroughsUnited States writer noted for his works portraying the life of drug addicts (1914-1997)Samuel ButlerEnglish novelist who described a fictitious land he called Erewhon (1835-1902)James Branch CabellUnited States writer of satirical novels (1879-1958)Erskine Preston CaldwellUnited States author remembered for novels about poverty and degeneration (1903-1987)Italo CalvinoItalian writer of novels and short stories (born in Cuba) (1923-1987)Albert CamusFrench writer who portrayed the human condition as isolated in an absurd world (1913-1960)Elias CanettiEnglish writer born in Germany (1905-1994)Karel CapekCzech writer who introduced the word `robot' into the English language (1890-1938)Charles Lutwidge DodgsonEnglish author; Charles Dodgson was an Oxford don of mathematics who is remembered for the children's stories he wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)Willa Sibert CatherUnited States writer who wrote about frontier life (1873-1947)Miguel de Cervantes SaavedraSpanish writer best remembered for `Don Quixote' which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616)Raymond Thornton ChandlerUnited States writer of detective thrillers featuring the character of Philip Marlowe (1888-1959)Francois Rene ChateaubriandFrench statesman and writer; considered a precursor of the romantic movement in France (1768-1848)John CheeverUnited States writer of novels and short stories (1912-1982)Gilbert Keith Chestertonconservative English writer of the Roman Catholic persuasion; in addition to volumes of criticism and polemics he wrote detective novels featuring Father Brown (1874-1936)Kate O'Flaherty ChopinUnited States writer who described Creole life in Louisiana (1851-1904)Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christieprolific English writer of detective stories (1890-1976)Sir Winston Leonard Spenser ChurchillBritish statesman and leader during World War II; received Nobel prize for literature in 1953 (1874-1965)Samuel Langhorne ClemensUnited States writer and humorist best known for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1835-1910)Jean CocteauFrench writer and film maker who worked in many artistic media (1889-1963)Sidonie-Gabrielle Claudine ColetteFrench writer of novels about women (1873-1954)William Wilkie CollinsEnglish writer noted for early detective novels (1824-1889)Sir Arthur Conan DoyleBritish author who created Sherlock Holmes (1859-1930)Teodor Josef Konrad KorzeniowskiEnglish novelist (born in Poland) noted for sea stories and for his narrative technique (1857-1924)James Fenimore CooperUnited States novelist noted for his stories of American Indians and the frontier life (1789-1851)Stephen CraneUnited States writer (1871-1900)Edward Estlin CummingsUnited States writer noted for his typographically eccentric poetry (1894-1962)Clarence Shepard Day Jr.United States writer best known for his autobiographical works (1874-1935)Daniel DefoeEnglish writer remembered particularly for his novel about Robinson Crusoe (1660-1731)Thomas De QuinceyEnglish writer who described the psychological effects of addiction to opium (1785-1859)Charles John Huffam DickensEnglish writer whose novels depicted and criticized social injustice (1812-1870)Joan DidionUnited States writer (born in 1934)Baroness Karen BlixenDanish writer who lived in Kenya for 19 years and is remembered for her writings about Africa (1885-1962)Edgard Lawrence DoctorowUnited States novelist (born in 1931)John Roderigo Dos PassosUnited States novelist remembered for his portrayal of life in the United States (1896-1970)Feodor Mikhailovich DostoyevskyRussian novelist who wrote of human suffering with humor and psychological insight (1821-1881)Theodore Herman Albert DreiserUnited States novelist (1871-1945)Alexandre DumasFrench writer remembered for his swashbuckling historical tales (1802-1870)George Louis Palmella Busson du MaurierEnglish writer and illustrator; grandfather of Daphne du Maurier (1834-1896)Dame Daphne du MaurierEnglish writer of melodramatic novels (1907-1989)Lawrence George DurrellEnglish writer of Irish descent who spent much of his life in Mediterranean regions (1912-1990)Ilya Grigorievich EhrenbergRussian novelist (1891-1967)Mary Ann EvansBritish writer of novels characterized by realistic analysis of provincial Victorian society (1819-1880)Ralph Waldo EllisonUnited States novelist who wrote about a young Black man and his struggles in American society (1914-1994)Ralph Waldo EmersonUnited States writer and leading exponent of transcendentalism (1803-1882)James Thomas FarrellUnited States writer remembered for his novels (1904-1979)Edna FerberUnited States novelist; author of several popular novels (1887-1968)Henry FieldingEnglish novelist and dramatist (1707-1754)Francis Scott Key FitzgeraldUnited States author whose novels characterized the Jazz Age in the United States (1896-1940)Gustave FlaubertFrench writer of novels and short stories (1821-1880)Ian Lancaster FlemingBritish writer famous for writing spy novels about secret agent James Bond (1908-1964)Ford Hermann HuefferEnglish writer and editor (1873-1939)Cecil Scott ForesterEnglish writer of adventure novels featuring Captain Horatio Hornblower (1899-1966)Jacques Anatole Francois ThibaultFrench writer of sophisticated novels and short stories (1844-1924)Benjamin Franklinprinter whose success as an author led him to take up politics; he helped draw up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; he played a major role in the American Revolution and negotiated French support for the colonists; as a scientist he is remembered particularly for his research in electricity (1706-1790)Carlos FuentesMexican novelist (born in 1928)Emile GaboriauFrench writer considered by some to be a founder of the detective novel (1832-1873)John GalsworthyEnglish novelist (1867-1933)Erle Stanley Gardnerwriter of detective novels featuring Perry Mason (1889-1970)Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson GaskellEnglish writer who is remembered for her biography of Charlotte Bronte (1810-1865)Theodor Seuss GeiselUnited States writer of children's books (1904-1991)Kahlil GibranUnited States writer (born in Lebanon) (1883-1931)Andre Paul Guillaume GideFrench author and dramatist who is regarded as the father of modern French literature (1869-1951)Karl GjellerupDanish novelist (1857-1919)Nikolai Vasilievich GogolRussian writer who introduced realism to Russian literature (1809-1852)Sir William Gerald GoldingEnglish novelist (1911-1993)Oliver GoldsmithIrish writer of novels and poetry and plays and essays (1728-1774)Witold GombrowiczPolish author (1904-1969)Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de GoncourtFrench writer who collaborated with his brother Jules de Goncourt on many books and who in his will established the Prix Goncourt (1822-1896)Jules Alfred Huot de GoncourtFrench writer who collaborated with his brother Edmond de Goncourt on many books (1830-1870)Nadine GordimerSouth African novelist and short-story writer whose work describes the effects of apartheid (born in 1923)Aleksey Maksimovich PeshkovRussian writer of plays and novels and short stories; noted for his depiction of social outcastsKenneth GrahameEnglish writer (born in Scotland) of children's stories (1859-1932)Gunter Wilhelm GrassGerman writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927)Robert Ranke GravesEnglish writer known for his interest in mythology and in the classics (1895-1985)Henry Graham GreeneEnglish novelist and Catholic (1904-1991)Zane GreyUnited States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimmthe older of the two Grimm brothers remembered best for their fairy stories; also author of Grimm's law describing consonant changes in Germanic languages (1785-1863)Wilhelm Karl Grimmthe younger of the two Grimm brothers remembered best for their fairy stories (1786-1859)Sir Henry Rider HaggardBritish writer noted for romantic adventure novels (1856-1925)Elizabeth Sanderson HaldaneScottish writer and sister of Richard Haldane and John Haldane (1862-1937)Edward Everett Haleprolific United States writer (1822-1909)Alex HaleyUnited States writer and Afro-American who wrote a fictionalized account of tracing his family roots back to Africa (1921-1992)Marguerite Radclyffe HallEnglish writer whose novel about a lesbian relationship was banned in Britain for many years (1883-1943)Samuel Dashiell HammettUnited States writer of hard-boiled detective fiction (1894-1961)Knut PedersenNorwegian writer of novels (1859-1952)Thomas HardyEnglish novelist and poet (1840-1928)James Thomas HarrisIrish writer noted for his sexually explicit but unreliable autobiography (1856-1931)Joel Chandler HarrisUnited States author who wrote the stories about Uncle Remus (1848-1908)Bret HarteUnited States writer noted for his stories about life during the California gold rush (1836-1902)Jaroslav HasekCzech author of novels and short stories (1883-1923)Nathaniel HawthorneUnited States writer of novels and short stories mostly on moral themes (1804-1864)Ben HechtUnited States writer of stories and plays (1894-1946)Robert Anson HeinleinUnited States writer of science fiction (1907-1988)Joseph HellerUnited States novelist whose best known work was a black comedy inspired by his experiences in the Air Force during World War II (1923-1999)Ernest Hemingwayan American writer of fiction who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1954 (1899-1961)Hermann HesseSwiss writer (born in Germany) whose novels and poems express his interests in eastern spiritual values (1877-1962)Paul Johann Ludwig von HeyseGerman writer (1830-1914)Edwin DuBois HaywardUnited States writer (1885-1940)Thomas Wentworth Storrow HigginsonUnited States writer and soldier who led the first Black regiment in the Union Army (1823-1911)Ernst Theodor Amadeus HoffmannGerman writer of fantastic tales (1776-1822)Oliver Wendell HolmesUnited States writer of humorous essays (1809-1894)William Dean HowellsUnited States writer and editor (1837-1920)Edmond HoyleEnglish writer on card games (1672-1769)L. Ron Hubbarda United States writer of science fiction and founder of Scientology (1911-1986)James Langston HughesUnited States writer (1902-1967)James Henry Leigh HuntBritish writer who defended the Romanticism of Keats and Shelley (1784-1859)Aldous Leonard HuxleyEnglish writer; grandson of Thomas Huxley who is remembered mainly for his depiction of a scientifically controlled utopia (1894-1963)John IrvingUnited States writer of darkly humorous novels (born in 1942)Washington IrvingUnited States writer remembered for his stories (1783-1859)Christopher William Bradshaw IsherwoodUnited States writer (born in England) whose best known novels portray Berlin in the 1930's and who collaborated with W. H. Auden in writing plays in verse (1904-1986)Helen Maria Fiske Hunt JacksonUnited States writer of romantic novels about the unjust treatment of Native Americans (1830-1885)Jane JacobsUnited States writer and critic of urban planning (born in 1916)William Wymark JacobsEnglish writer of macabre short stories (1863-1943)Henry Jameswriter who was born in the United States but lived in England (1843-1916)Johannes Vilhelm Jensenmodernistic Danish writer (1873-1950)Samuel JohnsonEnglish writer and lexicographer (1709-1784)Erica JongUnited States writer (born in 1942)James Augustine Aloysius Joyceinfluential Irish writer noted for his many innovations (such as stream of consciousness writing) (1882-1941)Franz KafkaCzech novelist who wrote in German about a nightmarish world of isolated and troubled individuals (1883-1924)Helen Adams KellerUnited States lecturer and writer who was blind and deaf from the age of 19 months; Anne Sullivan taught her to read and write and speak; Helen Keller graduated from college and went on to champion the cause of blind and deaf people (1880-1968)Jean-Louis Lebris de KerouacUnited States writer who was a leading figure of the beat generation (1922-1969)Ken Elton KeseyUnited States writer whose best-known novel was based on his experiences as an attendant in a mental hospital (1935-2001)Joseph Rudyard KiplingEnglish author of novels and poetry who was born in India (1865-1936)Arthur KoestlerBritish writer (born in Hungary) who wrote a novel exposing the Stalinist purges during the 1930s (1905-1983)Jean de La FontaineFrench writer who collected Aesop's fables and published them (1621-1695)Ringgold Wilmer LardnerUnited States humorist and writer of satirical short stories (1885-1933)Francois de La RochefoucauldFrench writer of moralistic maxims (1613-1680)David Herbert LawrenceEnglish novelist and poet and essayist whose work condemned industrial society and explored sexual relationships (1885-1930)Thomas Edward LawrenceWelsh soldier who from 1916 to 1918 organized the Arab revolt against the Turks; he later wrote an account of his adventures (1888-1935)David John Moore CornwellEnglish writer of novels of espionage (born in 1931)Elmore John LeonardUnited States writer of thrillers (born in 1925)Mikhail Yurievich LermontovRussian writer (1814-1841)Doris May LessingEnglish author of novels and short stories who grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) (born in 1919)Clive Staples LewisEnglish critic and novelist; author of theological works and of books for children (1898-1963)Harry Sinclair LewisUnited States novelist who satirized middle-class America in his novel Main Street (1885-1951)John Griffith ChaneyUnited States writer of novels based on experiences in the Klondike gold rush (1876-1916)Clarence Malcolm LowryEnglish novelist (1909-1957)John LylyEnglish writer noted for his elaborate style (1554-1606)Edward George Earle Bulwer-LyttonEnglish writer of historical romances (1803-1873)Norman MailerUnited States writer (born in 1923)Bernard MalamudUnited States writer (1914-1986)Sir Thomas MaloryEnglish writer who published a translation of romances about King Arthur taken from French and other sources (died in 1471)Andre MalrauxFrench novelist (1901-1976)Thomas MannGerman writer concerned about the role of the artist in bourgeois society (1875-1955)Kathleen Mansfield BeauchampNew Zealand writer of short stories (1888-1923)Alessandro ManzoniItalian novelist and poet (1785-1873)John Philip MarquandUnited States writer who created the Japanese detective Mr. Moto and wrote other novels as well (1893-1960)Ngaio MarshNew Zealand writer of detective stories (1899-1982)Alfred Edward Woodley MasonEnglish writer (1865-1948)William Somerset MaughamEnglish writer (born in France) of novels and short stories (1874-1965)Henri Rene Albert Guy de MaupassantFrench writer noted especially for his short stories (1850-1893)Francois Charles MauriacFrench novelist who wrote about the conflict between desire and religious belief (1885-1970)Andre MauroisFrench writer best known for his biographies (1885-1967)Mary Therese McCarthyUnited States satirical novelist and literary critic (1912-1989)Carson Smith McCullersUnited States novelist (1917-1967)Herbert Marshall McLuhanCanadian writer noted for his analyses of the mass media (1911-1980)Herman MelvilleUnited States writer of novels and short stories (1819-1891)Thomas MertonUnited States religious and writer (1915-1968)James Albert MichenerUnited States writer of historical novels (1907-1997)Henry Valentine MillerUnited States novelist whose novels were originally banned as pornographic (1891-1980)Alan Alexander MilneEnglish writer of stories for children (1882-1956)Margaret Munnerlyn MitchellUnited States writer noted for her novel about the South during the American Civil War (1900-1949)Nancy Freeman MitfordEnglish writer of comic novels (1904-1973)Jessica Lucy MitfordUnited States writer (born in England) who wrote on American culture (1917-1996)Michel Eyquem MontaigneFrench writer regarded as the originator of the modern essay (1533-1592)Lucy Maud MontgomeryCanadian novelist (1874-1942)Sir Thomas MoreEnglish statesman who opposed Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and was imprisoned and beheaded; recalled for his concept of Utopia, the ideal stateChloe Anthony WoffordUnited States writer whose novels describe the lives of African-Americans (born in 1931)Hector Hugh MunroBritish writer of short stories (1870-1916)Dame Jean Iris MurdochBritish writer (born in Ireland) known primarily for her novels (1919-1999)Louis Charles Alfred de MussetFrench poet and writer (1810-1857)Vladimir vladimirovich NabokovUnited States writer (born in Russia) (1899-1977)Ogden NashUnited States writer noted for his droll epigrams (1902-1971)Sir Harold George NicolsonEnglish diplomat and author (1886-1968)Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr.United States writer (1870-1902)Joyce Carol OatesUnited States writer (born in 1938)Edna O'BrienIrish writer (born in 1932)Mary Flannery O'ConnorUnited States writer (1925-1964)Liam O'FlahertyIrish writer of short stories (1896-1984)John Henry O'HaraUnited States writer (1905-1970)Philip Michael OndaatjeCanadian writer (born in Sri Lanka in 1943)Baroness Emmusca OrczyBritish writer (born in Hungary) (1865-1947)Eric Arthur Blairimaginative British writer concerned with social justice (1903-1950)Thomas Nelson PageUnited States diplomat and writer about the Old South (1853-1922)Dorothy Rothschild ParkerUnited States writer noted for her sharp wit (1893-1967)Boris Leonidovich PasternakRussian writer whose best known novel was banned by Soviet authorities but translated and published abroad (1890-1960)Alan Stewart PatonSouth African writer (1903-1988)Walker PercyUnited States writer whose novels explored human alienation (1916-1990)Petronius ArbiterRoman satirist (died in 66)Sylvia PlathUnited States writer and poet (1932-1963)Gaius Plinius SecundusRoman author of an encyclopedic natural history; died while observing the eruption of Vesuvius (23-79)Gaius Plinius Caecilius SecundusRoman writer and nephew of Pliny the Elder; author of books of letters that commented on affairs of the day (62-113)Edgar Allan PoeUnited States writer and poet (1809-1849)William Sydney PorterUnited States writer of short stories whose pen name was O. Henry (1862-1910)Katherine Anne PorterUnited States writer of novels and short stories (1890-1980)Emily Price PostUnited States female author who wrote a book and a syndicated newspaper column on etiquette (1872-1960)Ezra Loomis PoundUnited States writer who lived in Europe; strongly influenced the development of modern literature (1885-1972)John Cowper PowysBritish writer of novels about nature; one of three literary brothers (1872-1963)Theodore Francis PowysBritish writer of allegorical novels; one of three literary brothers (1875-1953)Llewelyn PowysBritish writer of essays; one of three literary brothers (1884-1939)Howard PyleUnited States writer and illustrator of children's books (1853-1911)Thomas PynchonUnited States writer of pessimistic novels about life in a technologically advanced society (born in 1937)Ayn RandUnited States writer (born in Russia) noted for her polemical novels and political conservativism (1905-1982)Mordecai RichlerCanadian novelist (born in 1931)Kenneth RobertsUnited States writer remembered for his historical novels about colonial America (1885-1957)Anna Eleanor Rooseveltwife of Franklin Roosevelt and a strong advocate of human rights (1884-1962)Philip Milton RothUnited States writer whose novels portray middle-class Jewish life (born in 1933)Jean-Jacques RousseauFrench philosopher and writer born in Switzerland; believed that the natural goodness of man was warped by society; ideas influenced the French Revolution (1712-1778)Alfred Damon RunyonUnited States writer of humorous stylized stories about Broadway and the New York underground (1884-1946)Ahmed Salman RushdieBritish writer of novels who was born in India; one of his novels is regarded as blasphemous by Muslims and a fatwa was issued condemning him to death (born in 1947)George William RussellIrish writer whose pen name was A.E. (1867-1935)Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de SadeFrench soldier and writer whose descriptions of sexual perversion gave rise to the term `sadism' (1740-1814)Jerome David SalingerUnited States writer (born 1919)Amandine Aurore Lucie DupinFrench writer known for works concerning women's rights and independence (1804-1876)Carl SandburgUnited States writer remembered for his poetry in free verse and his six volume biography of Abraham Lincoln (1878-1967)William SaroyanUnited States writer of plays and short stories (1908-1981)Dorothy Leigh SayersEnglish writer of detective fiction (1893-1957)Johann Christoph Friedrich von SchillerGerman romantic writer (1759-1805)Sir Walter ScottBritish author of historical novels and ballads (1771-1832)Robert William ServiceCanadian writer (born in England) who wrote about life in the Yukon Territory (1874-1958)George Bernard ShawBritish playwright (born in Ireland); founder of the Fabian Society (1856-1950)Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft ShelleyEnglish writer who created Frankenstein's monster and married Percy Bysshe Shelley (1797-1851)Nevil Shute NorwayEnglish writer who settled in Norway after World War II (1899-1960)Georges Joseph Christian SimenonFrench writer (born in Belgium) best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret (1903-1989)Upton Beall SinclairUnited States writer whose novels argued for social reform (1878-1968)Isaac Bashevis SingerUnited States writer (born in Poland) of Yiddish stories and novels (1904-1991)Tobias George SmollettScottish writer of adventure novels (1721-1771)Baron Snow of LeicesterEnglish writer of novels about moral dilemmas in academe (1905-1980)Alexander Isayevich SolzhenitsynSoviet writer and political dissident whose novels exposed the brutality of Soviet labor camps (born in 1918)Susan SontagUnited States writer (born in 1933)Muriel Sarah SparkScottish writer of satirical novels (born in 1918)Frank Morrison SpillaneUnited States writer of popular detective novels (born in 1918)Baronne Anne Louise Germaine Necker de Steal-HolsteinFrench romantic writer (1766-1817)Sir Richrd SteeleEnglish writer (1672-1729)Gertrude Steinexperimental expatriate United States writer (1874-1946)John Ernst SteinbeckUnited States writer noted for his novels about agricultural workers (1902-1968)Marie Henri BeyleFrench writer whose novels were the first to feature psychological analysis of the character (1783-1842)Sir Leslie StephenEnglish writer (1832-1904)Laurence SterneEnglish writer (born in Ireland) (1713-1766)Robert Louis Balfour StevensonScottish author (1850-1894)Francis Richard StocktonUnited States writer (1834-1902)Abraham StokerIrish writer of the horror novel about Dracula (1847-1912)Harriet Elizabeth Beecher StoweUnited States writer of a novel about slavery that advanced the abolitionists' cause (1811-1896)William StyronUnited States writer best known for his novels (born in 1925)Eugene SueFrench writer whose novels described the sordid side of city life (1804-1857)John Addington SymondsEnglish writer (1840-1893)Sir Rabindranath TagoreIndian writer and philosopher whose poetry (based on traditional Hindu themes) pioneered the use of colloquial Bengali (1861-1941)Ida Minerva TarbellUnited States writer remembered for her muckraking investigations into industries in the early 20th century (1857-1944)William Makepeace ThackerayEnglish writer (born in India) (1811-1863)Henry David ThoreauUnited States writer and social critic (1817-1862)Alexis Charles Henri Maurice de TocquevilleFrench political writer noted for his analysis of American institutions (1805-1859)Alice B. ToklasUnited States writer remembered as the secretary and companion of Gertrude Stein (1877-1967)John Ronald Reuel TolkienBritish philologist and writer of fantasies (born in South Africa) (1892-1973)Count Lev Nikolayevitch TolstoyRussian author remembered for two great novels (1828-1910)Anthony TrollopeEnglish writer of novels (1815-1882)Ivan Sergeevich TurgenevRussian writer of stories and novels and plays (1818-1883)Sigrid UndsetNorwegian novelist (1882-1949)Louis UntermeyerUnited States writer (1885-1977)John Hoyer UpdikeUnited States author (born 1932)Carl Clinton Van DorenUnited States writer and literary critic (1885-1950)Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas LlosaPeruvian writer (born in 1936)Jules VerneFrench writer who is considered the father of science fiction (1828-1905)Eugene Luther VidalUnited States writer (born in 1925)Francois-Marie ArouetFrench writer who was the embodiment of 18th century Enlightenment (1694-1778)Kurt VonnegutUnited States writer whose novels and short stories are a mixture of realism and satire and science fiction (born in 1922)John Barrington WainEnglish writer (1925-1994)Alice Malsenior WalkerUnited States writer (born in 1944)Richard Horatio Edgar WallaceEnglish writer noted for his crime novels (1875-1932)Fourth Earl of OrfordEnglish writer and historian; son of Sir Robert Walpole (1717-1797)Izaak WaltonEnglish writer remember for his treatise on fishing (1593-1683)Mary Augusta Arnold WardEnglish writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920)Robert Penn WarrenUnited States writer and poet (1905-1989)Evelyn Arthur Saint John WaughEnglish author of satirical novels (1903-1966)Martha Beatrice Potter WebbEnglish writer and a central member of the Fabian Society (1858-1943)Herbert George Wellsprolific English writer best known for his science-fiction novels; he also wrote on contemporary social problems and wrote popular accounts of history and science (1866-1946)Eudora WeltyUnited States writer about rural southern life (1909-2001)Franz WerfelUnited States writer (1890-1945)Cicily Isabel FairfieldBritish writer (born in Ireland) (1892-1983)Edith Newbold Jones WhartonUnited States novelist (1862-1937)Elwyn Brooks WhiteUnited States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985)Patrick Victor Martindale WhiteAustralian writer (1912-1990)Eliezer WieselUnited States writer (born in Romania) who survived Nazi concentration camps and is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust (born in 1928)Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills WildeIrish writer and wit (1854-1900)Thornton Niven WilderUnited States writer and dramatist (1897-1975)Angus Frank Johnstone WilsonEnglish writer of novels and short stories (1913-1991)Harriet Wilsonauthor of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870)Owen WisterUnited States writer (1860-1938)Pelham Grenville WodehouseEnglish writer known for his humorous novels and stories (1881-1975)Thomas Clayton WolfeUnited States writer best known for his autobiographical novels (1900-1938)Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.United States writer who has written extensively on American culture (born in 1931)Mary Wollstonecraft GodwinEnglish writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women; mother of Mary Shelley (1759-1797)Ellen Price WoodEnglish writer of novels about murders and thefts and forgeries (1814-1887)Adeline Virginia Stephen WoolfEnglish author whose work used such techniques as stream of consciousness and the interior monologue; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1882-1941)Herman WoukUnited States writer (born in 1915)Richard WrightUnited States writer whose work is concerned with the oppression of African Americans (1908-1960)Willard Huntington WrightUnited States writer of detective novels (1888-1939)Israel ZangwillEnglish writer (1864-1926)Stefan ZweigAustrian writer (1881-1942)types:alliteratora speaker or writer who makes use of alliterationauthoressa woman authorbiographersomeone who writes an account of a person's lifecompilera person who compiles information (as for reference purposes)contributora writer whose work is published in a newspaper or magazine or as part of a bookcyberpunka writer of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technologydraftera writer of a draftfolk writera writer of folktalesframersomeone who writes a new law or planGothic romancera writer of Gothic romancesjournalista writer for newspapers and magazineslibrettista writer who creates the scripts for operas and musicalsnovelistone who writes novelspamphleteera writer of pamphlets (usually taking a partisan stand on public issues)paragraphera writer of paragraphs (as for publication on the editorial page of a newspaper)poeta writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry)poetiser, poetizer, rhymer, rhymester, versifiera writer who composes rhymes; a maker of poor verses (usually used as terms of contempt for minor or inferior poets)scenarista writer of screenplaysscriptwritersomeone who writes scripts for plays or movies or broadcast dramasspace writera writer paid by the area of the copyspeechwritera writer who composes speeches for others to delivertragediana writer (especially a playwright) who writes tragedieswordmongera writer who uses language carelessly or pretentiously with little regard for meaningword-paintera writer of vivid or graphic descriptive powerwordsmitha fluent and prolific writerautobiographersomeone who writes their own biographybarda lyric poetbroadcast journalista journalist who broadcasts on radio or televisioncorrespondent, newspaperman, newspaperwoman, newswriter, pressmana journalist employed to provide news stories for newspapers or broadcast mediaelegistthe author of a mournful poem lamenting the deadfolk poeta folk writer who composes in versegazetteera journalist who writes for a gazettelexicographer, lexicologista compiler or writer of a dictionary; a student of the lexical component of languageodista poet who writes odesphotojournalista journalist who presents a story primarily through the use of photographspoetessa woman poetpoet laureatethe poet officially appointed to the royal household in Great Britainpoet laureatea poet who is unofficially regarded as holding an honorary position in a particular group or regionsob sistera journalist who specializes in sentimental storiessonneteera poet who writes sonnetstype of:communicatora person who communicates with others
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someone who originates or causes or initiates something
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be the author of
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