This article is more than 8 years old

Author! Author!

It's time for an excitingly niche quiz on Registrarism. Can you tell which of these individuals are both academics and novelists?
This article is more than 8 years old

Paul Greatrix is an HE expert and was until recently Registrar at the University of Nottingham

Many UK universities now teach creative writing, notably Bath Spa, Southampton Solent, Goldsmith’s and the place that started it all, UEA, but dozens and dozens of others now offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees too.

Many of these courses are taught by established writers. Others are taught by academics who have gone on to be successful authors. And there are plenty of other academics who just happen to be best-selling novelists too. Annoyingly.

So how well do you know your academic authors? The following list of worthies includes five individuals who are not or were not both academics and writers of fiction. Can you spot them without Googling? Add your guesses in the comments section (answers in due course).

Stephen Kingacademicnovelists
Umberto Eco
Jon McGregor
Rose Tremain
David Lodge
Iris Murdoch
Simone de Beauvoir
W G Sebald
Michele Roberts
Philip K Dick
Patricia Duncker
Lavinia Greenlaw
Muriel Spark
Malcolm Bradbury
Paul Magrs
Ali Smith
Howard Jacobson
Eden Sharp
Angela Carter
Ian Rankin
Giles Foden
Christopher Bigsby
J R R Tolkien
Lewis Carroll
George R R Martin
D H Lawrence
Angus Wilson
Stephen Hawking
C S Lewis
Isaac Asimov
Alexander McCall Smith
Andrew Motion
G K Chesterton
Russell Celyn Jones

 

(For anyone who can’t possibly wait the answers can be found here)

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Smita Jamdar
8 years ago

Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge, Howard Jacobson, CS Lewis, Iris Murdoch

Smita Jamdar
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul Greatrix

No it’s me. Doh!

Stephen Rowlstone
8 years ago

Ian Ranking, Ali Smith, George Martin, Philip K Dick & Rose Tremain

Stephen Rowlstone
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul Greatrix

I’m impressed I got one right ☺

Dee Bird
8 years ago

Philip K Dick, DH Lawrence, Muriel Spark, Lavinia Greenlaw,Jon McGregor

Chris Husbands
8 years ago

Philip K Dick, DH Lawrence, Muriel Spark, Isaac Asimov, George R R Martin

Chris Husbands
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul Greatrix

High 2:1 unless I am much mistaken.

Stephen Rowlstone
8 years ago

Second attempt : Dick, Lawrence, Spark, Hawking, Motion?

Caroline Morgan
8 years ago

Iris Murdoch, Ian Rankin, George RR Martin, DH Lawrence, Ali Smith

Caroline Morgan
8 years ago

Yikes that was meant to be Muriel Spark,not iris Murdoch

Gabriele
8 years ago

This is really hard, so guessing it’s Lawrence, spark, Asimov, Martin and Dick. Does Lewis Carroll count because it’s just a nomdeplume and the academic behind that name used his real name for work? Too pathetic an attempt and clutching at straws?

Gabriele
8 years ago
Reply to  Paul Greatrix

*hangs head in shame* Has googled and knows answer now. Resubmit? Or does that way disqualification lie?

pinman
8 years ago

Dick, Spark, Lawrence, Carter and Sebald.

Michelle Dickson
8 years ago

Dick, Lawrence, Spark, Rankin, Greenlaw

pinman
8 years ago

This is so like playing Cluedo, Paul. Of course, it’s the ‘no Google’ rule which is turning away the masses.

Gordon Slaven
8 years ago

Asimov, Lawrence, Rankin, Spark, Forden?

Gordon Slaven
8 years ago

Foden, that last one is…

Gordon Slaven
8 years ago

Sigh…