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Authors often adopt pen names or pseudonyms for various reasons. In many instances, their real names remain far less recognized than their chosen aliases, such as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Their careers and accomplishments provide hints to uncover their true identities. Can you decipher the real authors behind these famous pen names?
10. Howard Francis O’Brien
Date: January 15, 2022. A small aircraft touches down at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport. Outside, a grand arrangement of white roses stands ready. Figures clad in black, donning masks and holding umbrellas, move solemnly through the rain. Two men carry an enormous floral display to a casket draped in purple. Mourners pause to touch the coffin, some embracing others already gathered on the tarmac. The casket is then placed into a waiting hearse.
A motorcycle-riding police officer escorts a funeral procession into Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana. A quote appears on the screen during the funeral video, titled 'Bringing Anne Home,' stating, 'I imagine heaven as an endless library, filled with countless books to explore… a gateway to knowledge… rather than a single, monotonous answer to all our questions.'
The author’s name is revealed next. It belongs to the same writer who passed away thirty-six days prior to the video's opening date, the woman behind works like Blood Communion, The Wolves of Midwinter, and The Sleeping Beauty series, Howard Francis O’Brien, more famously known as Anne Rice (1941–2021). Rice’s unique first name was a tribute to her father, who named her after himself.
9. Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee
Their most famous fictional detective, sharing the name of their magazine dedicated to mystery and detective tales, was the pseudonym adopted by the two cousins and writing partners, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971). They created this alias after entering a mystery writing contest announced in the August 1928 issue of McClure’s Magazine.
Their stories were classic “whodunits,” where their detective unraveled clues to uncover killers and criminals. On February 12, 1948, the duo hosted a radio show, A Question of Color, which explored and critiqued racism in the United States. They also authored a lesser-known mystery series featuring Barnaby Ross, though it never achieved the fame of their iconic Ellery Queen detective series.
8. Arthur Blair
The writer behind a renowned dystopian novel and a satirical political allegory, whose titles would instantly reveal his famous pseudonym, Eric Arthur Blair (1903–1950), was born in India. At the age of one, he moved to England with his mother and older sister, Marjorie. A frail child with a passion for writing, he composed his first poem at four and saw his first published work, another poem, at eleven.
After graduating from Eton, he joined the India Imperial Police Force but resigned five years later. Struggling to make ends meet, he wrote a book offering a stark portrayal of the working poor’s lives. To spare his family embarrassment, it was published under his pen name. His next work critiqued the injustices of British colonialism.
While fighting against General Francisco Franco, Blair was injured and lost his ability to speak. He and his wife faced treason charges but had already fled Spain. Upon returning to England, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which likely accounted for his frequent illnesses.
Blair authored numerous acclaimed essays and worked as a BBC producer, hosting luminaries like T. S. Eliot and E. M. Forster. He resigned after being compelled to produce wartime propaganda for India. In October 1949, four years after his first wife’s death, he married Sonia Brownell but passed away shortly after. Inheriting the estate of the Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four author, George Orwell’s widow dedicated her life to preserving his legacy.
7. Mary Ware
Mary Ware (1874–1946), the host of a Paris salon frequented by icons like Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, James Joyce, and Henri Matisse, penned a book that “outraged and offended many of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers and artists.” Its title hinted at her life partner, a prominent figure in the avant-garde community.
Her autobiography provoked Matisse by comparing his wife’s mouth to that of a horse, enraged Hemingway with claims of cowardice and accusations that he learned to write by editing her manuscript, and upset Georges Braque by dismissing Cubism as merely “a Spanish affair.”
Perhaps this is why Mary Ware, also known as Gertrude Stein, framed her memoir as the life story of her partner, titling it The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.
6. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
The University of St. Andrews’ School of Mathematics and Statistics acknowledges that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898) is far more famous for his pen name and the literary genre it represents than for his mathematical works. A child prodigy, he read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress by age seven. Despite being bullied at rugby school, he excelled in mathematics and divinity, earning numerous accolades.
During a visit to his uncle, Dodgson captivated the daughters of a family friend with imaginative stories he created on the spot. When one of the girls requested he write them down, he complied. Author Henry Kingsley, upon seeing the stories during a visit to the girls’ parents, encouraged Dodgson to publish them.
The first of these stories, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, became a timeless classic in children’s literature, overshadowing Dodgson’s dry mathematical works like Two Books of Euclid and The Formulae of Plane Trigonometry. Under his pen name, Lewis Carroll, Dodgson achieved global fame.
5. Marguerite Annie Johnson
Marguerite Annie Johnson (1928–2014) wore many hats throughout her life, including singer, dancer, actress, composer, civil rights activist collaborating with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, Hollywood director, writer, editor, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet.
Her exceptional talent in poetry cemented her status as one of modern America’s finest. Her works garnered academic honors, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In her first autobiography, Johnson openly discusses the traumatic rape she endured as a child, which left her mute for five years. She describes how she immersed herself in the works of great writers, cultivating a deep love for language. Her poetry and numerous accomplishments made her renowned as the celebrated Maya Angelou.
4. Jean Baptiste Poquelin
Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622–1673), a playwright, actor, and poet, is celebrated as one of the greatest figures in French language and literature, as noted by Google Arts & Culture. His initial foray into acting was unsuccessful; the Ilustre Theater, which he co-founded with Madeleine Béjart and her siblings, went bankrupt, leading to a brief imprisonment for unpaid debts.
His fortunes improved when the Duke of Orleans became his patron. In 1655, Poquelin wrote and staged his first comedy, L’Etourdi ou les Contretemps. Success followed, despite setbacks, including a five-year ban and lifelong harassment for satirizing the clergy. He died a celebrated figure, collapsing from tuberculosis during his final performance, coughing and hemorrhaging onstage.
Despite priests denying him last rites and the prohibition against burying actors in consecrated ground, Poquelin—better known as Molière—was interred in a section of the cemetery reserved for unbaptized infants, by order of the king.
3. Richard Saunders
On December 19, 1732, Richard Saunders (1706–1790), a polymath known as a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, and diplomat, introduced an annual almanac. For the next twenty-five years, it featured a diverse collection of fascinating facts, proverbs, and trivia.
His almanac—Poor Richard’s Almanac—also included humorous anecdotes. In one entry, a man debates with his gout, which warns, “I have plenty of twinges for you tonight, and more will come tomorrow,” justifying each painful strike. The gout reminds the man of his broken promise to walk daily, blaming weather conditions when, in reality, his laziness was the cause. Despite his vow to improve, the gout remains skeptical and promises to return.
In his almanac, Richard Saunders, better known as Benjamin Franklin, provided something for everyone.
2. Francois-Marie Arouet
In his youth, Francois-Marie Arouet (1694–1778) attended a renowned Jesuit college and later studied law, but his true passion lay in literature. He wrote acclaimed poems and plays until a feud with the Chevalier de Rohan led to his imprisonment in the Bastille. After his release, he traveled to the Netherlands and England, where he shifted to philosophical writing, praising England’s political freedom for its prosperity and arguing that truth is relative rather than absolute.
One of his most celebrated works illustrates, through its protagonist’s hardships, that life is fraught with challenges and suffering, regardless of culture, Christianity, or philosophical comfort. It challenges Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s assertion that this is “the best of all possible worlds.” This literary masterpiece was an instant success, selling out eight editions in its first year, 1759, and was translated into English the same year under Arouet’s pen name, Voltaire.
1. Hector Hugh Monro
Hector Hugh Monro (1870–1916) was born in Burma but was sent to England at age two after his mother’s tragic death. He and his siblings were raised by their strict, puritanical grandmother and aunts. Like Eric Arthur Blair, Monro later served as a police officer in Burma. While Blair contracted tuberculosis, Monro suffered from malaria. During World War I, he declined a commission and enlisted as a regular soldier, only to be killed by a German sniper at 45.
Throughout his life, Monro often mocked Edwardian society by placing its members in natural settings that starkly contrasted with their refined manners. His stories, known for their twist endings, suggested that nature, despite its dangers, was more genuine and sustaining than the artificiality of society.
The ironic tales of Munro, or “Saki,” as he signed his works—possibly referencing “a poem or a South American monkey”—remain beloved by readers worldwide.
