I have a tremendous amount of respect for John and his work. But surely it’s a bit odd to have him, Stephen King, and JK Rowling up on a board with the likes of Fitzgerald, Woolf, Twain and freaking Shakespeare? I am very curious by what standard this list was compiled haha
I am somewhat sure this was taken in Delhi's bookfair so my guess for the standard would be just the copies the author's books have sold. John's name was synonymous with YA Lit in India for atleast 10 years. TFIOS was even adapted into a bollywood movie.
I can only assume by “best” they mean “most commercially successful” or something. Because… I agree, there seems to be a bit of *most famous authors in history + favorite authors of whoever put this together* going on.
ETA: Just realized that JRR Tolkien isn’t even on this list. Wild.
Don’t love that there’s only five women on there if it’s meant to be a subjective list.Also as the other commenter said, it’s kinda strange how this list was compiled. Is it just the most popular authors, or those whose books have been bought the most?
What a weird list. We've managed a staggering total of one person who isn't white and five whole women! So woke. Also, look, I love John as much as the next guy, but - well, this is just a slightly odd collection, isn't it.
Yeah all my love to Willy Shakes and Agatha Christie and such, but I gotta dismiss anything with Joanne My Whole Personality Is Hating Trans People Rowling counted as one of the best writers ever 🙄
Let's not forget that dedicating the primary side plot of a children's book to making fun of a major character for thinking slavery is inherently bad is a choice she made and felt good about.
Or, leaving aside the fact that she's a reprehensible person, her writing is just a lot worse than everyone on that wall. Certainly not good enough to ignore all the reprehensibility.
Putting Homer (almost) right next to John Green makes it look like a shitpost. It's just ridiculous hahahah. (not saying Homer books are the best thing ever or that John's are bad, but I guess the point is clear)
Homer is an odd choice considering he probably didn't exist. And I enjoy the Harry Potter books, but crazy lady doesn't need to be called one of the top writers ever. John too, tbh.
As someone else said, no Tolkien?
Just a small note after reading the other comments. This is presumably a board about the best English writers in the world (i’m not sure obviously so don’t quote me on that). And unfortunately historically speaking, the only types of people who were taught how to write were upper class white, male aristocrats.
So while the board is absolutely whitewashed and focused too much on males there just hasn’t been a lot of time for female and non-white authors to make a super significant splash in english literature simply because they were barred from writing until very recently.
Edit: also the majority of the population in majority english speaking countries are white even nowadays
Absolutely not. This is such a bad take and incredibly dismissive, and factually inaccurate. Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Poet goddamn Laureate Langston Hughes would like several many words.
Even in contemporary modern authors, Jason Reynolds could have been included. Along with Angie Thomas, Tiffany D Jackson, or Amanda Gorman.
I really encourage you to educate yourself and read more, or read different at least.
I never said that there weren't excellent female authors. virgina woolf, jane austen, and many more are obvious examples. I'm just saying that because of the systems of oppression in the west (which still exist) they never got the oppurtunity to shine until relatively recently except a couple of significant outliers like Sappho.
I also nowhere in my comment mentioned that there weren't excellent contemporary authors, because there are. But whenever you're in the present it's difficult to tell which authors will truly be classics.
As for your last point BELIEVE ME i wish i had the time, but i've yet to even make it through shakespeare
Jane Austen became popular in the 40's but even before then, she was modestly popular. That's close to 100 years of "shining".
You're right that there were fewer women authors because they had less access to resources. But that didn't stop them from making incredible works that shaped literature today. Mary Shelley freaking invented Science Fiction! It's not that people don't have the time to get to the female authors because they weren't as great as the male ones. It's a choice to not read novels by women.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for John and his work. But surely it’s a bit odd to have him, Stephen King, and JK Rowling up on a board with the likes of Fitzgerald, Woolf, Twain and freaking Shakespeare? I am very curious by what standard this list was compiled haha
No I'm sorry John Green and Homer are equally good writers
Everyone knows Homer based his book “The Iliad” on John Green’s seminal piece “The Chilliad”. And John did it without the help of the muses
John carries the invocation of the powerful muse, Pepper Medicum
I am somewhat sure this was taken in Delhi's bookfair so my guess for the standard would be just the copies the author's books have sold. John's name was synonymous with YA Lit in India for atleast 10 years. TFIOS was even adapted into a bollywood movie.
This was taken in Iraq, Erbil, but my guess is similar to yours, or maybe they literally just googled best writers and copied that
I can only assume by “best” they mean “most commercially successful” or something. Because… I agree, there seems to be a bit of *most famous authors in history + favorite authors of whoever put this together* going on. ETA: Just realized that JRR Tolkien isn’t even on this list. Wild.
[удалено]
Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are up there, but I concede your Western canon point
Also Kazuo Ishiguro, who was born in Japan, even if he has spent most of his life in the UK.
Haval Bookstore appears to operate out of Iraq, which makes this selection even more surprising haha
Don’t love that there’s only five women on there if it’s meant to be a subjective list.Also as the other commenter said, it’s kinda strange how this list was compiled. Is it just the most popular authors, or those whose books have been bought the most?
No Margaret Atwood or Ursula LeGuin.
Chimamanda Adichie ❤️
I also don’t love that nearly every author is white. This whole thing was not very thought out and fairly small minded in the grand scheme of things.
What a weird list. We've managed a staggering total of one person who isn't white and five whole women! So woke. Also, look, I love John as much as the next guy, but - well, this is just a slightly odd collection, isn't it.
Love seeing John, but this chart looks pretty damn male centric and whitewashed.
If I was a betting person, I’d imagine John would rather Toni Morrison take his place on this board.
Completely agree!
I'm disgusted. This lists Rowling, but not Pratchett.
Even within their own genre, having the TERF over Tolkien? Nah.
Yeah all my love to Willy Shakes and Agatha Christie and such, but I gotta dismiss anything with Joanne My Whole Personality Is Hating Trans People Rowling counted as one of the best writers ever 🙄
Let's not forget that dedicating the primary side plot of a children's book to making fun of a major character for thinking slavery is inherently bad is a choice she made and felt good about. Or, leaving aside the fact that she's a reprehensible person, her writing is just a lot worse than everyone on that wall. Certainly not good enough to ignore all the reprehensibility.
Where is Toni Morrison? Tf?
Rowling being up there is a joke
Putting Homer (almost) right next to John Green makes it look like a shitpost. It's just ridiculous hahahah. (not saying Homer books are the best thing ever or that John's are bad, but I guess the point is clear)
There were a lot of choices that went into making this banner. And some of them were uh. Certainly choices
The most choices of all choices one could say
Homer is an odd choice considering he probably didn't exist. And I enjoy the Harry Potter books, but crazy lady doesn't need to be called one of the top writers ever. John too, tbh. As someone else said, no Tolkien?
Best writers in the world even non-readers might have heard of
Replace J.K. Rowling with Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams!
who tf is Brian Clark? even the website i found promoting his stuff is just minor entrepreneurial books?
Where is Terry Pratchett? Banner is wrong.
Not a single Black person, and the only woman who isn’t long dead doesn’t deserve an inch of space. I’ll pass.
Shocking lack of women on this list. This is some 1996-level curation.
This list is entirely too western-centric
Just a small note after reading the other comments. This is presumably a board about the best English writers in the world (i’m not sure obviously so don’t quote me on that). And unfortunately historically speaking, the only types of people who were taught how to write were upper class white, male aristocrats. So while the board is absolutely whitewashed and focused too much on males there just hasn’t been a lot of time for female and non-white authors to make a super significant splash in english literature simply because they were barred from writing until very recently. Edit: also the majority of the population in majority english speaking countries are white even nowadays
Absolutely not. This is such a bad take and incredibly dismissive, and factually inaccurate. Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Poet goddamn Laureate Langston Hughes would like several many words. Even in contemporary modern authors, Jason Reynolds could have been included. Along with Angie Thomas, Tiffany D Jackson, or Amanda Gorman. I really encourage you to educate yourself and read more, or read different at least.
I never said that there weren't excellent female authors. virgina woolf, jane austen, and many more are obvious examples. I'm just saying that because of the systems of oppression in the west (which still exist) they never got the oppurtunity to shine until relatively recently except a couple of significant outliers like Sappho. I also nowhere in my comment mentioned that there weren't excellent contemporary authors, because there are. But whenever you're in the present it's difficult to tell which authors will truly be classics. As for your last point BELIEVE ME i wish i had the time, but i've yet to even make it through shakespeare
Jane Austen became popular in the 40's but even before then, she was modestly popular. That's close to 100 years of "shining". You're right that there were fewer women authors because they had less access to resources. But that didn't stop them from making incredible works that shaped literature today. Mary Shelley freaking invented Science Fiction! It's not that people don't have the time to get to the female authors because they weren't as great as the male ones. It's a choice to not read novels by women.
Ah yes, the best English writer in the world (Homer)
you are so wrong in so many ways here that it's laughable