The greatest authors of all time have done more than dominate bookshelves across the world.
Their words have shaped human thought, encapsulated the human experience, and given a creative outlet to the millions who have turned through their pages.
Who Are the Greatest Authors of All Time?
From old-school classic authors like Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, and Bram Stoker to contemporary writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George R.R. Martin, and Joan Didion, we’ve compiled 50 of the greatest authors of all time for your reading pleasure.
Now, crack those books and get to turning those pages!
1. Ernest Hemingway
From The Old Man and the Sea to The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway is unmatched in his influence on American literature.
2. Jane Austen
Mr. Darcy is the love of millions of people’s lives, created by the inimitable Jane Austen in her mega-bestseller Pride & Prejudice.
3. Gabriel García Marquez
Known best for One Hundred Years of Solitude, no one does beautiful fiction quite like Gabriel García Marquez.
4. John Steinbeck
Whether exploring the intricacies of life during The Great Depression in The Grapes of Wrath or biblical allegory in East of Eden, Steinbeck explores the human condition during hard times.
5. Margaret Atwood
A science and dystopian fiction magnate, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale paints the horrifying story of a dystopian future in a land called Gilead – just one of Atwood’s many thrilling reads.
6. Agatha Christie
A prolific mystery writer, Christie has written well over 50 mystery novels and short stories, including Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None.
7. Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier wrote one of the most pivotal books in mystery history with Rebecca, cementing her place as a powerhouse.
8. Arthur Conan Doyle
You simply cannot have
9. Mary Higgins Clark
With millions and millions and millions of book sales under her belt, Mary Higgins Clark has been a bestseller since the beginning – in fact, her debut Where Are the Children? has been printed well over 50 times.
10. Gillian Flynn
Everyone loves an unreliable heroine, and Gillian Flynn does it best, whether with her runaway bestseller Gone Girl or her insanely popular Sharp Objects.
11. Stephen King
From Pet Sematary to The Shining, Stephen King has a style and repertoire that is completely unmatched.
12. Bram Stoker
There just simply is no horror genre without Bram Stoker and his Dracula.
13. Mary Shelley
No one would have ever heard the story of a man-made of pieces without Shelley’s iconic Frankenstein.
14. Edgar Allan Poe
Suspense, darkness, and mystery reign in Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, from The Tell-Tale Heart to The Raven.
15. Anne Rice
Modern-day vampire stories wouldn’t exist without Anne Rice, whose famous The Vampire Chronicles series paved the way.
16. Flannery O’Connor
Flannery O’Connor’s brilliant short stories and fiction won the National Book Award with her collection The Complete Stories, showcasing her immense talent.
17. Neil Gaiman
Gaiman is famous for his beautifully woven stories, and his collection Fragile Things showcases some of his best works.
18. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A brilliant novelist and essayist, Adichie is also a phenomenal short story writer, especially in The Thing Around Your Neck.
19. Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz’s short fiction has appeared in the pages of the New Yorker, alongside winning him a myriad of awards. While his short stories can be mostly found online, his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is a great place to start with his work.
20. James Joyce
Joyce is one of the best-known and influential writers in history, and his book Dubliners
21. George R.R. Martin
Martin’s world of Westeros is completely unmatched in its scope in literature and in world influence as he tells an epic story of the battle between the changing tides of time and family.
22. J.K. Rowling
The hallowed halls of Hogwarts and the many adventures of a lightning-scarred boy have brought joy to millions of readers as a brainchild of J.K. Rowling.
23. Diana Gabaldon
Romance, magic, and fantasy abound in Gabaldon’s beautiful Outlander series.
24. C.S. Lewis
Beyond the wardrobe, adventure and challenges await in Lewis’ iconic Chronicles of Narnia.
25. J.R.R. Tolkien
It’s hard to imagine popular culture without the epic story centered around a certain ring, with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.
26. Joan Didion
Didion’s distinctive voice has made her one of the most distinctive memoir writers of her time, from The White Album to The Year of Magical Thinking.
27. Nora Ephron
With her famous biting wit and style, Nora Ephron’s words have graced movie screens and books alike, and many of her best writings are collected in The Most of Nora Ephron.
28. Frank McCourt
Perhaps most well-known for the hauntingly beautiful Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt’s memoirs delve deep into childhood and the coming-of-age.
29. Mary Karr
With a smash hit memoir of her own, The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr teaches the memoir form too, and has a book on it, The Art of Memoir.
30. Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain spent years embroiled in the culinary scene, and his memoirs speak to both his experience in the kitchen and the life that it led to, from Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly to Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook.
31. Roald Dahl
Whether rolling around in a giant peach with James and the Giant Peach or delving into books and magic with Matilda, Dahl has no shortage of childhood adventures in his repertoire.
32. Dr. Seuss
Whether you’re reading Cat in the Hat or The Lorax, there’s simply no childhood literature without Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss has inspired children and adults around the world with his books (and funny and thoughtful Dr. Seuss quotes).
33. Madeleine L’Engle
L’Engle manages to combine fantasy, science, and religious undertones masterfully in her books, from A Wrinkle in Time to A Ring of Endless Light.
34. Ludwig Bemelmans
The tales and adventures of a certain French girl named Madeline have captured the hearts of readers everywhere, thanks to Bemelmans.
35. Bill Martin, Jr.
From Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See
36. Jon Krakauer
Krakauer told the stories of his tragic climb up Mount Everest in Into Thin Air that captured millions of readers along the way, and has also written about tragic, adventurous, and beautiful stories of others in his books like Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven.
37. Ron Chernow
Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer Ron Chernow has written several incredible epic histories and biographies, some of his most notable being Alexander Hamilton – which influenced the musical – and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
38. Jon Meacham
An incredible biographer, Meacham has written books on everyone from presidents like George H.W. Bush and Thomas Jefferson to Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
39. Betty Friedan
Perhaps one of the most absolutely influential feminist writings to ever exist, Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is pretty much-required reading.
40. Stephen Hawking
Known as one of the most absolutely brilliant minds of our time, Hawking’s scientific musings in The Theory of Everything and A Brief History of Time were groundbreaking.
41. Nora Roberts
With over 200 novels, there is simply no romance without the books of Nora Roberts, from the swoony Bride Quartet to the more suspenseful Tribute.
42. Nicholas Sparks
Modern-day romance is, in huge part, due to Nicholas Sparks and his literal blockbuster bestsellers, from The Notebook to A Walk to Remember.
43. Emily Giffin
By exploring relationships deeper than just romantic ones – sibling dynamics, friendships
44. Taylor Jenkins Reid
By constantly reinventing her own wheel, Taylor Jenkins Reid has always remained far away from the typical romance trope, instead of spiking it with a tragedy like in her early Forever, Interrupted or exploring the world of old Hollywood in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
45. Christina Lauren
The dynamic duo of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings put out saucy, hilarious romantic fiction – some fan favorites being Love and Other Words and Dating You/Hating You.
46. Orson Scott Card
Most famous for the incredible Ender’s Game series, Orson Scott Card has written magical science fiction for young readers and older ones alike.
47. Ray Bradbury
From Fahrenheit 451 to Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury writes dystopian literature and science fiction at its best.
48. Aldous Huxley
A prolific novelist and essayist, Huxley’s Brave New World — his most famous novel — is an icon in itself.
49. Andy Weir
Andy Weir is a science fiction novelist for the modern age, and his novel The Martian was recently made into a movie starring Matt Damon.
50. George Orwell
George Orwell wrote one of the most influential novels of all time with 1984, cementing his place in science fiction and dystopian history.
The best thing about reading is the large variety of genre and writers you can read, and we’ve done our best to pull out as many of the greatest authors of all time as we possibly could.
Get to reading, and let us know who you think we may have left out. To whom would you give the title of greatest author of all time? Let us know in the comments.
51. Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was an English novelist who wrote over 15 novels. His best books, such as Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol, are some of readers’ favorites.
52. Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy is known as the master of realistic fiction, a Russian writer whose books War and Peace and Anna Karenina are among the finest novels.
53. Franz Kafka
Author Franz Kafka, a German writer, has delivered famous novels like The Trial and The Metamorphosis, some absurd yet amazing books of the time.
54. F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is known for his depictions of the Jazz Age in his writings, is the author of the popular classic novel The Great Gatsby.
55. William Shakespeare
Everybody knows William Shakespeare, the greatest writer in the English language. He has written many famous books such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet.
56. Oscar Wilde
An Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, and poet, Oscar Wilde is considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian era. Some of his popular works include The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
57. Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, a Russian novelist, playwright, and short story writer, is the first person to use grotesque techniques in his works. He is famous for his novels Dead Souls, The Overcoat, and The Nose.
58. Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman is called the Father of Free Verse. He was an American poet, journalist, and essayist. One of his famous poems is Leaves of Grass.
59. Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pen name Lewis Carroll) is an English author who wrote the famous children’s book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’
60. George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans, an English novelist and poet, used the pen name George Eliot. She was one of the leading writers, and ‘Middlemarch’ is one of her masterpieces.
61. Albert Camus
Albert Camus, the author of The Stranger, was a French writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
62. Harper Lee
Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of the famous classic book ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ Harper Lee, is among the best-known writers of all time.
63. A. A. Milne
Who doesn’t know Winnie The Pooh, the favorite of many kids? A. A. Milne is the writer of the book featuring this character and has also written many other children’s poetry.
64. Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath, the American novelist and poet, is best known for her works, such as Daddy and Lazy Lazarus.
65. William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth, an English romantic poet, is best known for his Lyrical Ballads, jointly published with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
66. Emily Brontë
Emily Bronte, an English novelist, wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights, which is one of the classic books of all time.
67. Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was the famous author of the classic novel Little Women. She is the best-known author of all time and has delivered several other great works.
68. Douglas Adams
The English author Douglas Adams is famous for his science fiction series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
69. D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence, or D.H. Lawrence, was one of the most influential English novelists whose famous works include Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Women in Love.
70. Washington Irving
One of the most famous American authors of the 19th century, Washington Irving, is popular for works such as Rip van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
71. Pablo Neruda
Chilean poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda is the Nobel Prize winner in Literature. One of the famous works of Pablo is Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.
72. Benjamin Franklin
One of the Founding Fathers who signed all three documents that granted independence to America, Mr. Benjamin Franklin, was also an author. One of his popular works includes Poor Richard’s Almanack.
73. John Grisham
John Grisham is an American novelist and lawyer whose many works have been top bestsellers. The Firm is one of his best-selling novels and is also best known.
74. Tom Clancy
The American novelist Tom Clancy is famous for writing espionage and military science-related books. A few of his best-known works are Rainbow Six and Jack Ryan novels.
75. Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was one of the important 20th-century modernist authors, best known for her novels Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.
76. Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist who is famous for his work ‘Lolita.’ He was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century.
77. Willa Cather
American writer Willa Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours. The Song of the Lark and My Antonia are some other best-known works by the author.
78. Henry James
Henry James was an American-British author who wrote The Portrait of a Lady and The Turn of the Screw. He was known as the master of prose fiction.
79. William Blake
Best known for the book Songs of Innocence and Experience, William Blake is considered one of the greatest visionaries of the early Romantic period.
80. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American novelist whose famous works include The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. He was considered one of the most studied writers.
81. William Golding
William Golding, the British novelist, was best known for his debut novel, Lord of the Flies, and was a Nobel Prize winner for literature.
82. Haruki Murakami
The magical realism and absurdist writer Haruki Murakami is one of the most known Japanese authors. His famous works include Norwegian Wood, Kafka On the Shore, and more.
83. Joseph Conrad
Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad was considered one of the greatest writers and master prose stylists. Some of his popular works include Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, and Heart of Darkness.
84. Herman Melville
Herman Melville was a well-known American novelist who was famous for his masterpiece Moby Dick.
85. Mark Twain
Mark Twain is called the greatest humorist the US has produced. He is known for his works, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
86. Ralph Ellison
Ralph was an American author best known for his work, Invisible Man. He was also a literary critic and scholar.
87. Rudyard Kipling
The English Novelist Rudyard Kipling is known for writing The Jungle Book, the famous children’s book. Kim was his most successful novel.
88. Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer and humorist with a writing career of more than 50 years. Slaughterhouse-Five was his most popular work.
89. Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize. With incredible books like Beloved and Jazz, she is one of the most celebrated authors of her time.
90. Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller is an American author whose best-known work is the Catch-22 and was also a Nobel Prize winner.
About the Author
At the ripe old age of 3, Susannah decided that life was just a blank canvas and took Magic Marker to the newly installed carpet in her room just to “see what happened.” She’s taken that approach to life since, curious about pretty much everything. She earned a journalism degree from Texas A&M University with the mission of making asking questions and telling stories her life, and since then has done everything from social media strategizing and content creation on the national level to writing a career column for USA TODAY. Susannah is a high school teacher and yearbook adviser with a huge passion for reading (Harry Potter is her absolute favorite), and is excited to bring another book-loving voice to Hooked to Books.