Pen Names

Kirsty McHugh, Ian Scott, National Library of Scotland

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English

Bodleian Library
27 March 2025

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers; Gift books

Writers publish under other names for a variety of reasons. Some use literary aliases in order to fit in while others employ them to stand out from the crowd.

This book traces the history of pen names from the nineteenth century to the present day through forty novelists, poets and playwrights. These include famous pseudonymous writers such as George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte), Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and George Orwell (Eric Blair), crime writers such as Josephine Tey and Nicci French, and those lesser-known writers whose real identities have been obscured behind their literary aliases.

The book also explores the wide range of motivations for taking on new names, including gender, the use of noms de plume for different genres, or even when writing as a team. Collectively, the stories in this book give us unusual insights into authors, publishers and readers over the last 200 years.

By: Kirsty McHugh, Ian Scott, National Library of Scotland
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 184mm, Width: 118mm,
ISBN: 9781851246496
ISBN 10: 1851246495
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 27 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction Pen Names David Lyndsay Boz Currer Bell George Eliot Lewis Carroll Fiona Macleod Saki Frank Richards Rebecca West E.M. Delafield C.S. Forester Radclyffe Hall Jean Rhys Mary Westmacott Lewis Grassic Gibbon George Orwell P.L. Travers Josephine Tey Christine Strathern Nat Karta John Wyndham Anthony Burgess John le Carré Victoria Lucas James Herriot Mick Norman Dan Kavanagh Emma Blair Jane Somers M.C. Beaton Barbara Vine Rahila Khan Iain M. Banks A.L. Kennedy Nicci French Lee Child Dreda Say Mitchell E.L. James Robert Galbraith T.L. Huchu Notes Further reading Index

Kirsty McHugh and Ian Scott are curators at the National Library of Scotland.