February Birthdays—Authors Quiz
February may be the shortest month of the year, but some influential writers were born during its 20-something days.
Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. Celebrated during his lifetime, he wrote 20 novels and fathered 10 children. He died in 1870 while still working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. How he intended to end this last novel remains a mystery.
Victor Hugo was born February 26, 1802, in Besançon France. A champion of democracy, he lived in exile for 20 years while Napoleon III was in power. Lauded for his plays as well as his novels, he spent his last decades in France, where he died in 1885.
James Joyce was born February 2, 1882, in Dublin, Ireland, but lived abroad in Paris, Rome, and Zurich during much of his life. Until his ground-breaking, often enigmatic style gained a following, Joyce struggled with obscurity and poverty. He died in 1941.
Sinclair Lewis was born February 7, 1885, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Considered a keen observer of American social and business life during the 1920s, he was the first American to win a Nobel Prize in literature. He died in Italy in 1951.
Toni Morrison, born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, is the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature. Teacher, editor, and the mother of two, her books have won both popular and critical acclaim.
Did you know that Laura Ingalls Wilder (born February 7, 1867, in Pepin, Wisconsin) didn't publish her first Little House book until she was 65 years old? Little House in the Big Woods, based on her childhood, was published in 1932, followed by Farmer Boy the very next year.
Did you know that John Grisham (born February 8, 1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas) was first inspired to write by his experiences as a young lawyer defending the poor, and that his first novel was rejected by over 20 publishers? Many of his novels, including The Firm and The Pelican Brief, have been made into films.
See if you can name the authors of the 16 titles listed below.
(Hint)
4 were written by Charles Dickens.
2 were written by Victor Hugo.
3 were written by James Joyce.
4 were written by Sinclair Lewis.
3 were written by Toni Morrison.
Arrowsmith
Babbitt
Beloved
David Copperfield
Elmer Gantry
Finnegan's Wake
Great Expectations
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Les Misérables
Main Street
Oliver Twist
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Song of Solomon
A Tale of Two Cities
The Bluest Eye
Ulysses
Answers:
The 4 books by Dickens are David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities.
The 2 books by Hugo are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables.
The 3 books by Joyce are Finnegan's Wake, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses.
The 4 books by Lewis are Arrowsmith, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, and Main Street.
The 3 books by Morrison are Beloved (which was made into a film starring Oprah and Danny Glover), Song of Solomon, and The Bluest Eye.