Famous U.S Authors: When you think of American literature, names like Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, or Ernest Hemingway probably pop into your head. But here’s the twist: behind these big names are wild stories, fun facts, and strange connections you probably never heard in school.
This quiz isn’t just about whether you know who wrote what; it’s about those fascinating little details that make authors feel larger than life.
So, get your timer ready, you’ve got just one minute per question. Let’s see how many you can nail!
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U.S Author Quiz
1. Which famous American author actually worked as a riverboat pilot before becoming a writer?
a) Ernest Hemingway
b) Mark Twain
c) F. Scott Fitzgerald
d) John Steinbeck
Answer: b) Mark Twain
Explanation: Before becoming ‘Mark Twain,’ Samuel Clemens literally worked on the Mississippi River as a steamboat pilot.
2. Which author wrote a novel that was rejected 28 times before finally being published?
a) Dr. Seuss
b) J.D. Salinger
c) Stephen King
d) Toni Morrison
Answer: a) Dr. Seuss
Explanation: Yep, ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’ was turned down by 28 publishers. Dr. Seuss almost gave up, but today his books are classics worldwide.
3. Who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, becoming the first US author to win since 1930?
a) William Faulkner
b) John Steinbeck
c) Pearl S. Buck
d) T.S. Eliot
Answer: b) John Steinbeck
Explanation: Steinbeck, author of The Grapes of Wrath, snagged the Nobel in 1962. His works about struggling farmers and social justice made him stand out globally.
4. Which author’s book sales skyrocketed after their death because they had been largely ignored in life?
a) Edgar Allan Poe
b) Emily Dickinson
c) Herman Melville
d) Sylvia Plath
Answer: c) Herman Melville
Explanation: When Moby-Dick came out in 1851, people didn’t care much. It wasn’t until decades later, long after Melville’s death, that the book was recognized as a masterpiece.
5. Which US author survived two plane crashes in just two days?
a) Ernest Hemingway
b) Jack Kerouac
c) Kurt Vonnegut
d) Ralph Ellison
Answer: a) Ernest Hemingway
Explanation: While traveling in Africa in 1954, Hemingway survived two back-to-back plane crashes. He lived, but was badly injured.
6. Who was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
a) Maya Angelou
b) Zora Neale Hurston
c) Alice Walker
d) Toni Morrison
Answer: d) Toni Morrison
Explanation: Toni Morrison made history in 1993 when she won the Nobel. Her works, like Beloved and Song of Solomon, have reshaped American literature
7. Which famous horror writer threw away his first big novel draft, and his wife dug it out of the trash?
a) Stephen King
b) R.L. Stine
c) H.P. Lovecraft
d) Anne Rice
Answer: a) Stephen King
Explanation: King tossed the draft of Carrie, thinking it was bad. His wife, Tabitha, rescued it from the trash, told him to keep going, and it became his first published novel.
8. Which famous American poet never married, barely left her house, and wrote thousands of poems in secret?
a) Sylvia Plath
b) Emily Dickinson
c) Elizabeth Bishop
d) Edna St. Vincent Millay
Answer: b) Emily Dickinson
Explanation: Dickinson lived almost like a recluse in Amherst, Massachusetts. She wrote over 1,800 poems, but only a handful were published while she was alive.
9. Which US author was also a successful Jazz Age partygoer, often living a wild lifestyle with his wife Zelda?
a) John Steinbeck
b) Truman Capote
c) F. Scott Fitzgerald
d) William Faulkner
Answer: c) F. Scott Fitzgerald
Explanation: Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby perfectly reflects his own life in the 1920s. He and Zelda were the definition of wild, glamorous, and chaotic, basically, the OG celebrity couple.
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10. Which American writer’s ashes were placed inside a red wheelbarrow?
a) Allen Ginsberg
b) William Carlos Williams
c) Charles Bukowski
d) Jack London
Answer: b) William Carlos Williams
Explanation: Known for his poem ‘The Red Wheelbarrow,’ Williams’ family poetically honoured him, his ashes were actually placed inside a red wheelbarrow.
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