Think you know books? Try our new Book Trivia!

Before They Were Famous Authors: Literary Quiz

BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS AUTHORS


Before they became famous for their writing, what unexpected jobs did Harper Lee, John Grisham, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, J.D. Salinger, Vladimir Nabokov and Douglas Adams do?

What job(s) did Harper Lee do before she was published?

  • Sorry, not correct.

    The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

    Scroll down for Next Question button

    Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

    In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

    Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)



  • Correct!


    Scroll down for Next Question button

    Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

    In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

    Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)



  • Sorry, not correct.

    The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

    Scroll down for Next Question button

    Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

    In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

    Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)



  • Sorry, not correct.

    The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

    Scroll down for Next Question button

    Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

    In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

    Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)



BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
    by Clare Leslie Hall
    A love triangle reveals deadly secrets in this thriller for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.
1
2
PrevNext

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
    by Liza Tully

    A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.

    Read the Reviews
Win This Book
Win These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas

"[An] atmospheric tale of unexpected hope." —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author

Enter

Book
Trivia

  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

W the C A the M W P

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.