Books and Authors
About 6 min · General Awareness · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 372 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
This topic tests your familiarity with notable literary works and their creators across Indian and international literature, covering fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies, and contemporary bestsellers.
Key ideas
- Indian Literature Focus: Books by Indian authors (writing in English or translated from regional languages) are a major part of this topic. Recent works by IAS officers, politicians, journalists and cricket personalities are also worth knowing.
- Award-Winning Works: Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Sahitya Akademi Award, and Nobel Prize in Literature winners are important. Track the latest winners annually.
- Autobiographies and Memoirs: Life stories of politicians, sportspersons, freedom fighters and public figures are easier to remember because the author is the subject.
- Contemporary Non-Fiction: Books on Indian economy, history, politics and current affairs by scholars and journalists are also relevant. Examples include works on demonetisation, Article 370, or economic reforms.
- Classic Indian Authors: Works by Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand remain relevant despite their age. Know their signature works.
Watch out for
- Confusing books by similar-sounding authors: Amish Tripathi (mythology fiction) vs. Devdutt Pattanaik (mythology non-fiction). Remember: Amish writes novels (Shiva Trilogy), Pattanaik writes interpretive mythology (Myth = Mithya).
- Mixing up recent autobiographies: Many sportspersons released memoirs around the same period. Create mental tags—Sachin = Playing It My Way, Sania = Ace Against Odds, Sindhu = Shuttling to the Top (a biography by V. Krishnaswamy).
- Overlooking co-authors: Books like The Accidental Prime Minister (Sanjaya Baru) or Sachin Tendulkar's Playing It My Way (co-written with Boria Majumdar) have specific authors beyond the subject. Don't assume autobiography = subject is author.
Quick reference
- Indian Booker winners: Salman Rushdie (1981), Arundhati Roy (1997), Kiran Desai (2006), Aravind Adiga (2008).
- Shashi Tharoor's trio: An Era of Darkness, Why I Am a Hindu, The Great Indian Novel.
- Amish Tripathi = Shiva Trilogy; Chetan Bhagat = campus/romance novels.
- Yuval Noah Harari = Sapiens, Homo Deus, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.
- Presidential/PM memoirs: A.P.J. Kalam (Wings of Fire), Pranab Mukherjee (The Presidential Years).
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Who is the author of the book 'The Guide'?
2. Which author wrote the book 'Midnight's Children'?
3. Who is the author of the autobiography 'Long Walk to Freedom'?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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