As an avid book lover, the thought of knowing the person who wrote that masterpiece always be fascinating and that somehow explains the large fanbase writers have. But what if you never knew the real face behind the bestseller.
Author with their pseudonyms is not unheard of. They have been writers who preferred the garb of anonymity. Whatever may be the reason these writers have no real biographical information and probably never showed up for any book signing.
Ellery Queen
We all know about Agatha Christie, but Ellery Queen is not as big a name as Agatha Christie in the world of fiction. Queen, made its debut in the year 1929 and was actually not one person. Ellery Queen was a team of two cousins named Manfred Lee and Frederic Dannay. Interestingly, their detective’s name in many of the novels was Ellery Queen lest readers forgot about the writers. They chose this name because McClure magazine was promoting a writing contest where they don’t want to show any favoritism towards the more known writers. The magazine called for all writers to write under a pseudonym. So, for a while, nobody knew about the real Ellery Queen and when they were called to speak at colleges, Manfred Lee appeared in a mask.
Carolyn Keene
Most of our readers who started reading quite young must be quite familiar with the name Carolyn Keene. If not, then let us introduce her once more, Keene is known for her celebrated character Nancy Drew and the series of young adult detective series. Who is Carolyn Keene? The truth is nobody knowswho it is. At first, the writer was Edward Stratemeyer who also wrote for The Hardy Boys. He drew many outlines for Nancy Drew’s books and after he passed away Mildred Wirt Benson started working on the series. Benson wrote about 23 Nancy drew novels and thenmany ghost-writers are filling in for the great Carolyn Keene.
Betty Crocker
Does this name surprise you on this list? We all know that Betty Crocker is a proficient cook and author of celebrated cookbooks and is also an advice columnist. But the truth is Betty Crocker is a hoax and is an invention of Washburn-Crosby company or General Mills. When the company held a promotion where readers had to assemble a puzzle, there were many queries about cooking along with the answers. So, the staff which specialized in flour came up with the name, and hence the fictitious Betty Crocker was born.
Which of these authors is your favourite?
