Authorial Pseudonyms

Authorial Pseudonyms

This article relates to The Three Lives of Cate Kay

I've joked on more than one occasion that, should I ever write a novel of my own, it will have to be under a pseudonym to save myself from the ire of all the real people I'll be turning into fiction. Many famous and acclaimed writers have used a pseudonym (also known as a pen name, nom de guerre, and nom de plume). The name Mark Twain is infinitely more well known than Samuel Clemens, his real-life counterpart. The French novelist George Sand used her male pseudonym to publish and to advocate for women's rights in 19th century France. Louisa May Alcott used multiple aliases—the most famous being "A.M. Barnard"—because they allowed her to write about more controversial subjects and in "lurid" genres, unlike the domestic fiction she was known for.

But an author hiding their true identity can also backfire. In The Three Lives of Cate Kay, Annie Calahan uses the name Cate Kay to publish a bestselling trilogy and also to reinvent herself after a terrible mistake she made as a young girl. The novel is presented, in part, as her decision to abandon anonymity, acknowledge her mistakes, and live openly again as Annie. This works out for Annie, but not every author in the real world has been as fortunate.

When Benjamin Franklin was sixteen, he wrote a series of essays for the New-England Courant, which his own brother published. Franklin knew that his brother wouldn't publish his byline, so he submitted them under the pen name Mrs. Silence Dogood, an alleged widowed wife of a minister. His essays became very popular among readers, and he published fourteen of them before confessing that he was the writer. His subterfuge annoyed his brother, who told Ben that the readers' compliments had made him vain, and resulted in a lasting rift.

Some authors have gone so far as to create entire lives for their pseudonyms. There may be none more elaborate than Stephen King's alter ego Richard Bachman. Begun as a way to give himself more creative freedom (and perhaps to allow him to publish more frequently), Bachman was endowed with an elaborate backstory, including a wife, a job as a dairy farmer, and a very unlikeable personality (probably due to the facial deformity he had as a result of a childhood illness). King admitted that he was Richard Bachman in 1985—after a book seller picked up on similarities between the two writers—and soon after that, Bachman passed away from "pseudonym cancer."

It's understandable that following the stunning success of her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling would choose to publish her next series under a pseudonym, especially because the new, more grown-up series followed a hardened private detective solving gruesome murders. Writing as Robert Galbraith, she released The Cuckoo's Calling in 2013. Rowling was outed almost immediately by her own lawyer, who revealed her identity to a friend; the resulting media blitz shot the book up the bestseller list. Many believed that the entire episode was a well-orchestrated publicity stunt, although the law firm denied it and took full responsibility. More recently, it was noted that Rowling's pseudonym, Galbraith, shares the name of a controversial conversion therapist; although Rowling says that her pseudonym was not named for him, people see a connection between her pen name, a plotline in one of her pen name's novels in which a male serial killer disguises himself as a woman, and Rowling's own transphobic views.

Finally, sometimes no one wants the curtain to be lifted. Beloved Italian author Elena Ferrante's true identity is a mystery even to her translator, but very few people are anxious to learn who she truly is. Despite numerous attempts to unveil her and several bombshell articles claiming to have learned her real name, fans and fellow authors have almost universally come to her defense, citing her right to privacy. The editor in chief of Ferrante's publisher says that any interest in Ferrante's real identity is "a media creation… It's a great story for the media, but in most cases, for a large number of readers, they're more interested in the books."

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This article relates to The Three Lives of Cate Kay. It first ran in the February 12, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.