Enid Blyton beats Shakespeare! It had to happen. Blyton is more reader-friendly. I am surprised Agatha Christie didn’t beat Shakespeare. But she’s also in the top 10. Here are Britain’s best loved storytellers, according to a survey by Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Literary Awards. See there is only American in the top 10: Brits prefer British yarns. And kid stuff. The three favourite writers are all children’s authors. So is No 10 Beatrix Potter. Tolkien also has his young fans.
- Enid Blyton
- Roald Dahl
- JK Rowling
- Jane Austen
- William Shakespeare
- Charles Dickens
- JRR Tolkien
- Agatha Christie
- Stephen King
- Beatrix Potter
CS Lewis just misses the top 10, coming in 11th. Arthur Conan Dylan has slipped badly, ranking 35th in the top 50. And my favourite, PG Wodehouse, would have done infinitely better in India. He ranks 38th on the list. Tolstoy is the only writer in a foreign language on the list. It’s strictly natives only — no Indians or other non-native English speakers make the list. Here’s the rest of the gang:
11. C.S. Lewis
12. Catherine Cookson
13. Martina Cole
14. Bill Bryson
15. Charlotte Bronte
16. Jacqueline Wilson
17. Oscar Wilde
18. Maeve Binchy
19. Dan Brown
20. Emily Bronte
21. Jackie Collins
22. Martin Amis
23. Isaac Asimov
24. Margaret Atwood
25. John Grisham
26. Marian Keyes
27. H.G.Wells
28. Alan Bennett
29. Arthur C. Clarke
30. George Orwell
31. Danielle Steel
32. Iain Banks
33. Judy Blume
34. Jodi Picoult
35. Arthur Conan Doyle
36. Peter Ackroyd
37. Kingsley Amis
38. P.G Wodehouse
39. Dr. Seuss
40. Mark Twain
41. J.G. Ballard
42. Thomas Hardy
43. James Patterson
44. Ian Rankin
45. Leo Tolstoy
46. Irvine Welsh
47. Jilly Cooper
48. Beryl Bainbridge
49. Ray Bradbury
50. Geoffrey Chaucer
READISCOVERY 