Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous science fiction and fantasy works, including many comic books. Known for his graphic novel collaborations with David McKean, his best known work is The Sandman. Neil Gaiman's recent works include Endless Nights, American Gods, and Coraline, a children's book also illustrated by David McKean. William Gibson
William Gibson is often referred to as the father of cyberpunk, a science fiction sub-genre that he "created" with his seminal work, "Neuromancer," in 1984. It was in "Neuromancer" that Gibson introduced his audience to the concept of cyberspace, to the newly important human-computer interface, and to the gritty and dangerous technological wasteland that became the backdrop for other Gibson novels. Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is the author of The Twenty-Seventh City, Strong Motion, the essay collection How to Be Alone, and The Corrections, winner of the National Book Award. He has been named one of the Granta 20 Best Novelists under 40 and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and Harper's. He lives in New York City. Ken Follett
Ken Follett burst into the book world in 1978 with Eye of the Needle, a taut and original thriller with a memorable woman character in the central role. His latest is Hornet Flight, about two young people who escape from German-occupied Denmark in a Hornet Moth biplane. It is loosely based on a true story. It was published in December 2002. He has sold approximately fifty million books worldwide. Ian Fleming
British journalist, secret service agent, writer, whose most famous creation was the superhero James Bond, agent 007. Fleming spent some years with British Intelligence, but his books are far from reality - they offer colorful locations, beautiful women, and exciting and inventive adventures Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is the author of Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, The Informers, and Glamorama. He was born in 1964 and raised in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Bennington College and lives in New York City. Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers, author of the phenomenal bestseller A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and You Shall Know Our Velocity, as well as editor of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 and McSweeney's Journal. He is the founder of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco writing lab for city youth. Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco is an Italian novelist and philosopher. His novel The Name of the Rose, was made into a movie starring Sean Connery as a monk who investigates a series of murders revolving around a monastery library. Recent books include Foucault's Pendulum, Serendipities, and most recently, Baudolino. Margaret Drabble
Margaret Drabble is known for such novels as The Millstone (1965), The Waterfall (1969), and The Middle Ground (1980), and her critical studies on Wordsworth (1966), Arnold Bennett (1974), The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989), The Gates of Ivory (1991), The Peppered Moth (2001), and The Seven Sisters (2002). She also edited the Oxford Companion to English Literature (1985). Joan Didion
Joan Didion was born in Sacramento, California and graduated with a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. She has been a novelist, essayist and screenwriter for more than three decades and was awarded the 1996 Edward MacDowell Medal and the 1999 Columbia Journalism Award... E.L. Doctorow
E. L. Doctorow's City of God is the most recent of his many widely acclaimed novels. He holds the Glucksman Chair in American and English Letters at New York University.
Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer is the author of three novels: The Color of Memory, The Search, and Paris Trance; a critical study of John Berger, Ways of Telling; and three genre-defying titles: But Beautiful (winner of the 1972 Somerset Maugham Prize), The Missing of the Somme, and Out of Sheer Rage (a National Book Critics Circle finalist). He lives in London, where he spends much of his time wishing he lived in San Francisco. Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist and screenwriter, is the author of The Commitments and the Booker Prize Winning novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Roddy Doyle is one of Ireland's funniest writers... Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is the author of thirteen novels, including "Underworld," "Libra," "White Noise," and "Cosmopolis." He has won the National Book Award, the PEN/ Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Jerusalem Prize. Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton was born in Chicago in 1942. His novels include "The Andromeda Strain," "Congo," "Jurassic Park," and "Timeline," "Prey," "Disclosure," and "Terminal Man." He is also the creator of the television series ER. Catherine Coulter
Catherine Coulter's first novel came out at the end of 1978 when she had just reached puberty. It was a Regency romance because, as any published author will tell you, it's best to limit the number of unknowns in a first book, and not only had she grown up reading Georgette Heyer, but she earned her M.A. degree in early 19th century European history. Laurie Colwin
Laurie Colwin was a popular author of novels and short stories. Before her untimely death in October 1992, Colwin garnered a large following with her sparkling tales of love and family in the upper middle class. Da Chen
Da Chen was born in Southern China in 1962. His family was of the landowning class, so they suffered considerable privation under the days of the infamous Red Guard. Da Chen's father, a traditional musician and intellectual, was forced to ruinous work in the fields. For much of his youth, Da Chen's and the family were hard-pressed to survive. Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938. His first collection of stories, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please" (a National Book Award nominee in 1977), was followed by "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," "Cathedral" (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1984), and "Where I'm Calling From" in 1988, when he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. T.C. Boyle
T. Coraghessan Boyle is the author of fifteen books of fiction, including, most recently, "A Friend of the Earth," "After the Plague," and "Drop City." His stories have appeared in most of the major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, The Paris Review, GQ, Antaeus and Granta. Saul Bellow
Praised for his vision, his ear for detail, his humor, and the masterful artistry of his prose, Saul Bellow was born of Russian Jewish parents in Lachine, Quebec in 1915, and was raised in Chicago... Anthony Burgess
Born 25th February 1917. Anthony Burgess, who will always be remembered for his eighth book, "A Clockwork Orange," was born Jack Wilson in a small house in Harpurhey, the son of a bookkeeper and part-time pianist, and the musician/dancer he met at the Ardwick Empire... Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom is a bestselling author, nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press. He is the author of eight books, including the bestsellers The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays With Morrie. Oprah Winfrey produced a major television movie for ABC based on Tuesdays With Morrie that aired in December 1999 and starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. Max Barry
Max Barry is an Australian who pretended to sell high-end computer systems for Hewlett-Packard while secretly writing his first novel "Syrup." In fact, he still has the laptop he wrote it on because HP forgot to ask for it back, but keep that to yourself. Dave Barry
Dave Barry is a humor columnist for the Miami Herald. His column appears in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. | 