261 Literature Trivia Questions to Grow Your Literary IQ

Literature trivia questions covering multiple genres effectively test how well you know your readings. 

For the bibliophiles, literature majors, and other scholars, literature has always been a core foundation of society. It preserves the past, inspires ideals, and shapes each new generation. From classics to contemporaries, writings hold powerful truths and ideas that still influence us today.

And to test and expand literary knowledge, we’ve listed interesting and deep literary questions covering global authors, banned books, contemporary literature, and more. Whether it’s for academic quiz bowls, self-studies, or game nights with friends and family, you can use these trivia questions to your heart’s content.

Bonus: At the end, you’ll find tips on creating your own interactive literature quiz with a QR code form.

261 literature trivia questions and their answers

Literature reflects human thought and culture across time, making it the main source of exploration and learning. Trivia questions related to literature can reveal surprising facts about our beloved books, authors, and the events behind them. Below are the categories of trivia you can explore and use:

Classic trivia

1. A sacred Hebrew text that opens with the creation story. (Hebrew Bible)
2. What is the oldest form of literature? (Poetry)
3. What is the oldest known literature? (Sumerian literature)
4. This is the epic Mesopotamian poem about a king’s quest for immortality. (Epic of Gilgamesh)
5. This Norse epic includes the story of Ragnarök, the final battle of the gods. (Prose Edda)
6. Which ancient Greek playwright is known for Antigone and Electra? (Sophocles)
7. An epic that is a part of Sophocles’ Theban Plays about a Hero who was predicted to kill his father and marry his mother. [Oedipus Rex (Latin)/Oedipus Tyrannus (Greek), meaning “Oedipus the King”]
8. A Greek epic that tells of the heroic exploits and adventures of the Trojan Wars. (The Iliad)
9. Which ancient poem begins, “Sing, Muse, of the anger of Achilles…”? (The Iliad)
10. The tragic Greek hero who brings destruction to Troy with his wrath and withdrawal from battle. (Achilles)
11. Who is the lady, in Homer’s Iliad, who started the phrase “The face that launched a thousand ships” (Helen of Troy)
12. In Homer’s epic poem, he is the king of Ithaca who was stuck on a 10-year journey from the Trojan War before returning home to his wife. (Odysseus)
13. This ancient Roman poet wrote Metamorphoses, a collection of mythological transformations. (Ovid)
14. A Roman epic poem by Virgil that narrates Aeneas’s journey from Troy to Italy. (Aeneid)
15. The protagonist of Virgil’s Aeneid, who escapes Troy to found Rome’s future line. (Aeneas)
16. Who is the tragic Trojan queen in Virgil’s Aeneid who falls in love with Aeneas? (Dido)
17. A classical tragedy by Euripides about a woman who kills her own children to spite her unfaithful husband. (Medea)
18. This tragic trilogy by Aeschylus centers on the House of Atreus and includes Agamemnon. (Oresteia)
19. Which ancient Indian epic is longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined? (Mahabharata)
20. This is the oldest surviving epic from India, telling the story of Prince Rama’s quest to rescue his wife Sita. (Ramayana)
21. The ancient Sanskrit collection of animal fables is known for its moral lessons. (Panchatantra)
22. This classical Chinese text by Sun Tzu is a treatise on military strategy. (The Art of War)
23. The oldest surviving corpus of Chinese literature contains oracles inscribed on bones. (Oracle Bone Script / Shang Dynasty divinations)
24. This Persian epic by Ferdowsi narrates Iran’s mythical and historical past. (Shahnameh)
25. Which work is a collection of stories told by pilgrims traveling to Canterbury? (The Canterbury Tales)
26. How many stories does The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer consist of? (24 stories)
27. What is the Buddhist collection of teachings that includes the Dhammapada? (Tipitaka or Pali Canon)
28. Which medieval narrative poem describes Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise? (Divine Comedy)
29. The final section of Dante’s Divine Comedy depicts heavenly bliss. (Paradiso)
30. What is the final destination of Dante’s journey through the three realms? (The Empyrean / God’s presence)
31. This medieval chivalric romance recounts the quest for the Holy Grail by King Arthur’s knights. (Arthurian Legends)
32. This is a Miguel de Cervantes novel about Alonso Quijano, who reads so many chivalry books that he becomes delusional and sets out on a knightly adventure. (Don Quixote)
33. The Celtic cycle of tales about a mythical Irish hero with supernatural strength. (Ulster Cycle / Cú Chulainn stories)
34. Which Icelandic epic saga recounts family feuds and heroic deeds in medieval Scandinavia? (Njáls Saga)
35. This medieval allegorical poem depicts a dreamer’s quest for a rose symbolizing love. (Roman de la Rose)
36. This is a novel that starts with the “Call me Ishmael” and with an alternative title of “The Whale” (Moby-Dick)
37. “To love another person is to see the face of God” is a famous quote from which novel of Victor Hugo? (Les Misérables)
38. Which novel depicts the love and marriage conflicts between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy? (Pride and Prejudice)
39. Which Charles Dickens book tells the story of an old man who hates Christmas until he’s visited by the ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley? (A Christmas Carol)
40. Which novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the American Dream and the troubled romance of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan? (The Great Gatsby)
41. This is a gothic book by Mary Shelley about a man creating a monster, which he then feared later on. (Frankenstein)
42. This is the first and only book by Emily Brontë with a Gothic romance theme of the heated entanglement of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. (Wuthering Heights)
43. This Old English poem recounts the hero’s fight against Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. (Beowulf)
44. This medieval allegory is famous for its talking animals and moral lessons, popular in European folklore. (Reynard the Fox)
45. He is the Scottish general who receives witch prophecies in William Shakespeare’s play. (Macbeth)
46. Which Shakespeare play is set in Venice and Cyprus? (Othello)

Literature trivia questions for kids

47. Which creature in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is famously always late? (The white rabbit)
48. This is a children’s classic story by L. Frank Baum, about a little girl, Dorothy, and her dog Toto swept by a cyclone to the magical land of Oz. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
49. Which Dr. Seuss book warns about environmental destruction through the voice of a fuzzy orange creature? (The Lorax)
50. What’s the name of the boy brought up by wolves in Kipling’s The Jungle Book? (Mowgli)
51. They are the four siblings who discover a magical world of Narnia through a wardrobe, become friends with the lion Aslan, and fight the white witch. (The Pevensie children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy)
52. According to its author, C.S. Lewis, who does the lion, Aslan, represent? (Jesus Christ or God)
53. Which classic children’s novel begins with the line, “All children, except one, grow up”? (Peter Pan)
54. Which book features Max, a boy who wears a wolf costume and sails to an island of wild monsters? (Where the Wild Things Are)
55. A Roald Dahl girl character who possesses telekinesis and loves books more than anything? (Matilda)
56. Which Roald Dahl book features a young boy and a chocolate factory owner with an orange-faced workforce? (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
57. Which Italian classic story features a wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy? (Pinocchio)
58. Which girl falls asleep for a hundred years until awakened by a prince’s kiss? (Sleeping Beauty)
59. What was the first full-length animated feature film based on a fairy tale? (Snowhite and the seven dwarves)
60. Which fairy tale features a girl with hair so long that she lets down her locks to be rescued? (Rapunzel)
61. Which classic by A.A. Milne is named after the author’s son’s teddy bear? (Winnie-the-Pooh)
62. This is a story of a boy who takes a magical train on Christmas Eve to meet Santa Claus. (The Polar Express)
63. Which century is often called the “Golden Age of Children’s Literature,” marked by classics like Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, and Anne of Green Gables? (Nineteenth century)
64. Which award, named after a British librarian, honors outstanding children’s books in the UK each year? (The CILIP Carnegie Medal)
65. Which 1964 book features a nanny who flies with an umbrella and makes medicine taste like cherries? (Mary Poppins)
66. Which “unfortunate” book series follows three orphans pursued by Count Olaf? (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
67. What story follows a rabbit named Peter who sneaks into Mr. McGregor’s garden and nearly gets caught. (The Tale of Peter Rabbit)
68. This story is about a friendly giant and a little girl who capture dreams in glass jars. (The BFG)
69. Which Dr. Seuss book, written using only 50 words, became one of the best-selling children’s books ever? (Green Eggs and Ham)
70. Which book pioneered for multicultural representation, showing an African American protagonist in a snowy city? (The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats)
71. Which story of a bear from Peru wears a red hat, loves marmalade, and lives with the Browns in London? (Paddington Bear)
72. A story of a curious monkey that causes mischief after being brought to the city by the Man with the hat. (Curious George)
73. In this children classic, a little blue engine repeats “I think I can” to climb a big hill. (The Little Engine That Could)
74. This is the story of a tiny mouse born into a human family and its journey in city adventures. (Stuart Little)

Famous authors and works

75. What was the first widely recognized graphic novel, blending visuals and narrative? (A Contract with God by Will Eisner)
76. Who is the Greek philosopher who wrote The Republic, a Socratic dialogue on justice and the ideal state? (Plato)
77. This philosopher tutored Alexander the Great and founded the Lyceum. (Aristotle)
78. Who is the Greek poet credited with composing two major epics foundational to Western literature? (Homer)
79. Which Roman philosopher wrote Meditations, which are still read as classics of Stoic thought? (Marcus Aurelius)
80. Which Roman orator and statesman wrote speeches and philosophical works that influenced Renaissance thinkers? (Cicero)
81. Who was the first great Roman satirist to write biting poems criticizing Roman society? (Juvenal)
82. Which Russian novelist was once sentenced to death but got a last-minute pardon before writing Crime and Punishment? (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
83. She was an American poet who was so reclusive that she only published 10 out of her 1800 poems while alive, yet became a legend after her death. (Emily Dickinson)
84. Which Victorian novelist worked in a blacking factory as a child, an experience that shaped his book, Oliver Twist? (Charles Dickens)
85. This author’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he’s better known by a riverboat term meaning “two fathoms deep.” (Mark Twain)
86. What Nobel Prize-winning Irish writer was nearly blind while writing Ulysses? (James Joyce)
87. Which 19th-century novelist used the pen name Currer Bell to disguise her gender? (Charlotte Brontë)
88. Who wrote Leaves of Grass, revised it throughout his life, and was called America’s “poet of democracy”? (Walt Whitman)
89. Which playwright coined more than 1,700 words still used in English today, including “eyeball” and “bedroom”? (William Shakespeare)
90. Which author destroyed many of her letters and asked her sister to burn her unpublished work after her death? (Jane Austen)
91. What Chilean poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature and is best known for love poems like Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair? (Pablo Neruda)
92. Who is the only author to win the Booker Prize twice for two different novels about the same character, Thomas Cromwell? (Hilary Mantel)
93. Which 20th-century British author feared public speaking and used the pen name George Orwell? (Eric Arthur Blair)
94. This French existentialist refused the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964. (Jean-Paul Sartre)
95. Who famously described the blank page as “the white bull that stares you down”? (Ernest Hemingway)
96. Which poet’s grave in Baltimore is still visited by a mysterious masked figure who leaves roses and cognac? (Edgar Allan Poe)
97. What Japanese author vanished while climbing Mount Aso in 1945, leaving behind No Longer Human? (Osamu Dazai)
98. Which African American author and activist wrote Go Tell It on the Mountain and debated Malcolm X in public forums? (James Baldwin)
99. Who fled the Nazis, escaped to America, and wrote the anti-fascist novel The Trial? (Franz Kafka)
100. Which children’s author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit used her earnings to buy farmland and preserve the Lake District? (Beatrix Potter)
101. What Irish author penned Dracula, drawing on local vampire legends and real castle ruins? (Bram Stoker)
102. Which Chinese writer of Dream of the Red Chamber spent decades rewriting and editing it by hand? (Cao Xueqin)
103. This author’s house in Concord, Massachusetts, inspired Little Women; you can still tour it today. (Louisa May Alcott) 
104. Who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature? (Toni Morrison)
105. Which dystopian writer kept pet magpies and drew on Cold War fears for 1984? (George Orwell)
106. Which Persian poet’s verses were once translated by Edward FitzGerald into The Rubáiyát, sparking a Victorian craze? (Omar Khayyam)
107. Who is the best-selling living author, with more than 500 million copies sold, who once lived in her car as a single mother? (J.K. Rowling)
108. Which Beat Generation poet was arrested for obscenity over Howl, a landmark freedom of speech trial? (Allen Ginsberg)
109. Who was known as “The Bard of Harlem” and helped shape the Harlem Renaissance with poems like “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”? (Langston Hughes)
110. This writer’s One Hundred Years of Solitude sold more than 50 million copies and is a pillar of magical realism. (Gabriel García Márquez)
111. Who is the only author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for a work that includes song lyrics? (Bob Dylan)
112. What feminist author wrote A Room of One’s Own, arguing that women needed money and privacy to write? (Virginia Woolf)
113. What Russian author was exiled to Siberia for revolutionary activities before writing Anna Karenina? (Leo Tolstoy)
114. Which influential Argentine writer imagined “The Library of Babel,” an infinite library with every possible book? (Jorge Luis Borges)
115. Who introduced the world to his character, detective Sherlock Holmes, and later tried to kill him off, only to bring him back? (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
116. Who is Brazil’s best-selling author, known for his philosophical novel The Alchemist? (Paulo Coelho)
117. Which South Korean author won the International Booker Prize 2016 for The Vegetarian? (Han Kang)

Historical book trivia

118. This literary masterpiece was born out of a volcanic eruption that darkened skies in 1816, famously being the “Year Without a Summer.” (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
119. Sparked by the Industrial Revolution, this Victorian novelist portrayed child labor and urban poverty with vivid realism. (Charles Dickens)
120. This adventure novel is written in a time of intense imperial expansion and reflects British attitudes toward colonial Africa. (Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad)
121. Amid the Cold War, this dystopian novel imagined a society where truth is whatever the state says it is. (1984 by George Orwell)
122. This epic poem was composed after a devastating war and became a foundational myth for ancient Rome. (The Aeneid by Virgil)
123. The horrors of World War I seep through every surreal, fragmented sentence in this modernist novel published in 1922. (Ulysses by James Joyce)
124. This female writer redefined gender roles during the Enlightenment by demanding education for women. (Mary Wollstonecraft)
125. Set during the French Revolution, this Dickens novel captures terror and hope. (A Tale of Two Cities)
126. Which Toni Morrison novel was written after the demolition of the US slavery that inspired freedom, memory, and ancestral pain? (Beloved)
127. John Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, following a Dust Bowl family migrating west in search of survival. (The Grapes of Wrath)
128. During the Civil Rights Movement, this novel was written to present the racial injustice in the American South through a child’s eyes. (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)
129. This literary manifesto by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti defined the values of Italian Futurism in the early 20th century. (Futurism Manifesto)
130. Echoing the anxieties of post-WWII Europe, this absurdist play features two men waiting endlessly for someone who never arrives. (Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett)
131. What Cold War and post-apocalyptic novel by Walter M. Miller reimagines a future shaped by nuclear devastation? (A Canticle for Leibowitz)
132. What novel questioned British rule and cultural misunderstanding, set in colonial India as it began to shift toward independence? (A Passage to India by E.M. Forster)
133. This literary moment, known for stream-of-consciousness and psychological depth, bloomed between the two world wars. (Modernism)
134. In the shadow of apartheid, this South African novel became a voice of resistance and reconciliation. (Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton)
135. This Latin American literary movement merged realism with myth, emerging alongside the political upheavals of the 1960s. (Magical Realism)
136. Following the 9/11 attacks, this Pakistani novel examined identity, suspicion, and displacement in a globalized world. (The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid)
137. Set against the backdrop of Stalinist Russia, this novel was published only decades after its author’s death. (The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov)
138. Born from slavery and oral tradition, this genre shaped much African American literature. (Slave narratives)
139. The French Revolution inspired this radical English poet to write verse about liberty and the rights of man. (William Blake)

Genres and literary forms

140. Which poetic form used by the Anglo-Saxons features alliteration and kennings? (Old English epic poetry, e.g., Beowulf)
141. What is the ancient oral tradition of long narrative poems about heroic deeds, like The Odyssey and The Mahabharata? (Epic poetry)
142. What style of poetry was mastered by Shakespeare, known for its 14-line structure and strict rhyme scheme? (Sonnet)
143. What Japanese poetic form traditionally has 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern? (Haiku)
144. Which genre emerged during the 18th century, featuring terrifying settings, supernatural elements, and brooding heroes? (Gothic fiction)
145. What genre reimagines myths, fairytales, or legends in modern settings? (Mythopoeia or mythic fiction)
146. Which genre flourished in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, mixing prose, poetry, and music? (Jazz poetry)
147. Which short poetic form, popular in Korea, often explores nature and seasons? (Sijo)
148. What form of ancient Chinese poetry uses parallel couplets and regulated tones? (Classical Chinese regulated verse)
149. What genre emerged in 18th-century Germany to depict emotional turmoil and youthful rebellion? (Sturm und Drang/Storm and Stress)
150. What modern genre focuses on everyday, mundane events and psychological depth, as in Chekhov’s plays? (Realism)
151. Which African literary form combines storytelling, music, and dance? (Griot tradition)
152. What form, dating back to medieval Japan, combines text, brush painting, and poetry on scrolls? (Emaki)
153. What experimental genre breaks traditional narrative order, seen in modernist works like Ulysses? (Stream of consciousness)
154. Which form, rooted in Arabic and Persian tradition, is a collection of short sayings, poems, or stories with moral lessons? (Adab literature)
155. Which hybrid genre mixes memoir, fiction, and essay like Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts? (Autofiction)
156. Which indigenous American form combines myth, song, and performance? (Oral chant or creation chant)
157. What short, impactful form of Japanese poetry is more personal and emotional than haiku? (Tanka)
158. What form uses letters, diary entries, or documents to tell the story, as in Dracula? (Epistolary novel)
159. Which genre mocks the conventions of serious works through humor, like Cervantes’ Don Quixote? (Parody)
160. Which form of performance poetry gained popularity in 1980s Chicago clubs? (Slam poetry)
161. What is the term for brief, philosophical stories told by Zen monks? (Koan)
162. What genre emerged in the 19th century to tell frontier stories of cowboys and outlaws? (Western fiction)
163. Which form of South Asian narrative blends poetry, music, and dance in epic retellings? (Kathakali)
164. What ancient Indian genre includes teaching stories told by trickster animals? (Panchatantra)
165. What hybrid genre is marked by self-referential storytelling, stories about writing stories? (Metafiction)

Intertextual connections

166. Which modern novel by Madeline Miller retells Homer’s Iliad from the perspective of Patroclus? (The Song of Achilles)
167. A novel by James Joyce that is a modern parallel to Homer’s Odyssey. (Ulysses)
168. Which dystopian classic was written partly in response to H.G. Wells’s A Modern Utopia? (Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
169. What play did Tom Stoppard write as a spin-off from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, focusing on two minor characters? (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
170. A Jean Rhys novel that retells the backstory of Antoinette Cosway, who is Bertha Mason from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre? (Wide Sargasso Sea)
171. What is the epic poem in Terza Rima by Derek Walcott, a Caribbean reworking of Homer’s Odyssey? (Omeros)
172. Which ancient Roman epic was written as a continuation of Homer’s Iliad but in a Roman context? (Aeneid by Virgil)
173. T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land references this medieval quest for the Holy Grail. (Fisher King figure of Arthurian Legend)
174. Which 20th-century novel of John Steinbeck retells the Biblical story of Cain and Abel in a California setting? (East of Eden)
175. This novel by Margaret Atwood retells Homer’s Odyssey from Penelope’s point of view. (The Penelopiad)
176. Which novel by John Gardner retells Beowulf from the monster’s perspective? (Grendel)
177. Which Shakespeare play is a reworking of British historical fiction, King Leir by Geoffrey of Monmouth? (King Lear)
178. Which novel mirrors the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the relationship of its two main characters, Jake and Brett? (The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway)
179. What modern series draws heavily from Norse mythology, with characters like Odin and Loki reimagined? (American Gods by Neil Gaiman)
180. Which work by John Milton inspired Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein? (Paradise Lost)
181. This dystopian novel by George Orwell alludes to the political ideas of Gulliver’s Travels. (1984)
182. Which book by Angela Carter tells classic fairy tales with feminist twists? (The Bloody Chamber)
183. What famous epic poem reworks the Biblical story of Adam and Eve? (Paradise Lost by John Milton)
184. This novel by Chinua Achebe is partly a response to colonial portrayals in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. (Things Fall Apart)
185. Which modern novel parallels the Greek myth of Icarus through the ambitions of its protagonist, Jay Gatsby? (The Great Gatsby)
186. Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani writer with a novel that reimagines The Great Gatsby in Lahore. (Moth Smoke)
187. A Jean Anouilh play that retells the story of Sophocles’ Antigone during WWII as an allegory for resistance? (Antigone)
188. Which novel by Michael Cunningham weaves together Woolf’s 1998 novel, Mrs. Dalloway, with modern lives? (The Hours)
189. What book by Salman Rushdie is famous for intertextual references to One Thousand and One Nights? (Haroun and the Sea of Stories)
190. Which contemporary retelling of King Lear is set on a farm in Iowa? (A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley)
191. Which Shakespeare play is a retelling of Plautus’s Menaechmi? (The Comedy of Errors)
192. Which poem by Auden rewrites the Icarus myth, observing the mundane world ignoring tragedy? (Musée des Beaux Arts)
193. Eugene O’Neill’s contemporary retelling of the Greek tragedy Electra is set in the American South. (Mourning Becomes Electra)
194. Which modern poem by Carol Ann Duffy retells fairy tales and myths from the women’s point of view? (The World’s Wife)
195. Which modern novel reimagines Huckleberry Finn through the perspective of Jim? (James by Percival Everett)
196. What reworking of Greek tragedy by Seamus Heaney gives a modern voice to Antigone? (The Burial at Thebes)
197. Which contemporary book reimagines Pride and Prejudice in modern-day Cincinnati? (Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld)
198. What award-winning novel by Zadie Smith alludes heavily to E.M. Forster’s Howards End? (On Beauty)
199. Which novel by Jeanette Winterson is a reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale? (The Gap of Time)
200. Which science fiction novel by Margaret Atwood parallels George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? (The Handmaid’s Tale)
201. Which novel by Madeline Miller revisits the Greek myth of Circe, the enchantress from The Odyssey? (Circe)
202. This is Aldous Huxley’s classic novel, which alludes to a line from The Tempest: “O brave new world.” (Brave New World)

Politics and censorship

203. What Russian novel was prohibited in the USSR but won the Nobel Prize in Literature? (Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak)
204. Which picture book was famously banned from some schools because it was believed the main character was too rebellious for bedtime? (Where the Wild Things Are)
205. Which novel about farm animals was marketed for children but sparked bans for its political allegory? (Animal Farm by George Orwell)
206. This is a French book by Voltaire that ridiculed the blind optimism and was banned by the Catholic Church for crimes of blasphemy and sedition. (Candide)
207. This is a Chinese quotation book from Mao Zedong that became mandatory reading during the cultural revolution. (The Little Red Book)
208. Which classic novel about racial injustice was once banned in some US schools for its use of racial slurs and depiction of rape? (To Kill a Mockingbird)
209. What landmark children’s novel by Judy Blume sparked school debates for its frank discussion of puberty? (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.)
210. Which Russian author of The Gulag Archipelago exposed the horrors of Soviet labor camps and was exiled for it? (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)
211. An Iranian memoir of Marjane Satrapi that was banned in some US schools for depicting war and rebellion? (Persepolis)
212. A lot of books were burned in Nazi Germany for promoting ideas that contradicted what ideology? (Aryan)
213. Which South African author used literature to challenge apartheid in Burger’s Daughter? (Nadine Gordimer)
214. Which controversial novel by D.H. Lawrence faced multiple obscenity trials for its explicit scenes? (Lady Chatterley’s Lover)
215. An American novel about teenage rebellion that was banned for its vulgar language and sexual content. (The Catcher in the Rye)
216. He is a Pakistani author whose novel The Satanic Verses sparked global protests and a fatwa calling for his death. (Salman Rushdie)
217. Which South Asian poet was arrested for his revolutionary verses against British colonial rule? (Kazi Nazrul Islam)
218. Which anti-war novel was banned in multiple countries for its graphic depiction of World War I? (All Quiet on the Western Front)
219. A US Senate hearing in the 1950s targeted writers and filmmakers accused of communist sympathies. (The McCarthy Hearings)
220. Which literary author used a fantasy setting to critique totalitarianism in We, inspiring Orwell’s 1984? (Yevgeny Zamyatin)
221. This is a novel set during the Partition of India, which controversially presents a relationship between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man amidst the communal violence, leading to it being a sensitive and sometimes challenged work. (Such a Long Journey)
222. Which Turkish writer was tried for “insulting Turkishness” after writing about the Armenian genocide? (Orhan Pamuk)
223. Which poem by Allen Ginsberg faced an obscenity trial in 1957 for its raw, rebellious language? (Howl)
224. Which American author’s books were burned in the segregated South for promoting racial equality? (James Baldwin)
225. What era in Spain saw censorship of countless works under Franco’s dictatorship? (The Francoist regime)
226. Which graphic memoir about Iran was banned in some schools for “inappropriate images”? (Persepolis)
227. Which African novel about colonial oppression was banned in South Africa? (Things Fall Apart)
228. Which book series about a young wizard faced bans for “promoting witchcraft”? (Harry Potter series)
229. What term describes underground publishing in the Soviet Union to evade censorship? (Samizdat)
230. Which French writer’s erotic works were banned and only published long after his death? (Marquis de Sade)
231. What book by George Orwell coined the phrase “thoughtcrime”? (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
232. Which American novel about slavery faced bans for its graphic violence and sexual content? (Beloved)
233. Which Czech playwright’s absurdist works were banned before he became president? (Václav Havel)
234. Which Chilean poet, exiled for his communist beliefs, won the Nobel Prize in Literature? (Pablo Neruda)
235. Which feminist novel about a woman’s awakening was banned for “immorality” in 1899? (The Awakening)
236. Which Russian poet committed suicide under Stalin’s oppressive regime? (Marina Tsvetaeva)
237. Which banned French novel, inspired by the Marquis de Sade, shaped modern erotica? (Story of O)
238. Which dystopian novel imagines a future where books are burned to suppress knowledge? (Fahrenheit 451)
239. Which genre-defining essay by Virginia Woolf calls for “a room of one’s own” for women to write freely? (A Room of One’s Own)
240. These two well-known works of José Rizal were meant to inspire Filipino patriotism and start revolutions against their colonizers. (Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo)
241. Which Nigerian author was imprisoned for his anti-war stance during the Biafran War? (Wole Soyinka)
242. Which Russian literary journal published dissident writers like Solzhenitsyn when the USSR wouldn’t? (Novy Mir)
243. A Chilean-American writer’s books were banned under Pinochet’s regime for challenging the dictatorship. (Isabel Allende)
244. An essay collection by James Baldwin challenged racial injustice and was labeled “subversive.” (The Fire Next Time)

Contemporary literature trivia

245. This fiction adventure holds the Guinness World Record for being the most translated series by a single author. (Harry Potter)
246. What was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize? (Maus by Art Spiegelman)
247. What Pulitzer-winning novel by Toni Morrison tells the story of Sethe, an escaped slave haunted by her past? (Beloved)
248. Which literary award was famously shared for the first time in 2019 after a rule against joint winners? (The Booker Prize, awarded to Margaret Atwood with The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo with Girl, Woman, Other)
249. Which recent novel was the first graphic novel ever nominated for the Booker Prize? (Sabrina by Nick Drnaso)
250. Who is the contemporary author who made headlines by declining the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964? (Jean-Paul Sartre, not super contemporary, but an iconic moment of defiance.)
251. Which African author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021, becoming the first Tanzanian writer to do so? (Abdulrazak Gurnah)
252. Which contemporary writer’s books have been translated into more languages than any other Japanese author’s? (Haruki Murakami)
253. She is an African American poet celebrated as the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history in 2021.  (Amanda Gorman)
254. Which recent novel gives a fresh twist on Greek tragedies from the perspective of Achilles’ captive Briseis? (The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker)
255. Which 1989 children’s book by Lesléa Newman broke new ground by portraying a happy lesbian family and was self-published after traditional publishers turned it down? (Heather Has Two Mommies)
256. Which Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual secret railroad network? (The Underground Railroad)
257. Which global phenomenon by Khaled Hosseini follows two boys, Amir and Hassan, in war-torn Afghanistan? (The Kite Runner)
258. Which novel by Margaret Atwood imagines a dystopian society where women are forced into childbearing roles? (The Handmaid’s Tale)
259. What 2001 novel by Yann Martel blends survival at sea with philosophical questions and a Bengal tiger? (Life of Pi)
260. This dystopian story by Suzanne Collins launched a global franchise about kids forced to fight to the death on live TV. (The Hunger Games)
261. Which epic fantasy series by George R.R. Martin starts with A Game of Thrones? (A Song of Ice and Fire)

Effectively test literature knowledge with online quizzes

There we have it, the 261 literature trivia questions you can use for a knowledge test. Whether doing a self-exploration or a random question game with friends, each trivia helps deepen your love for literature.

And, to make it more engaging and digital, try creating your own quiz online and challenging others. 

Test your literature skills with interactive quizzes, share book trivia at your next club sessions, or add a QR code to invite readers anywhere. There’s always something new to learn when stories connect us all. Create literature quizzes with TIGER FORM today!