Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Authors at the 2022 National Book Festival? 

The National Endowment for the Arts is excited to sponsor the Writers Studio stage at the 2022 National Book Festival, continuing the agency’s long tradition of supporting the festival. On Saturday, September 3, some of the literary world’s most brilliant and prolific authors will discuss their craft in-person in Washington, D.C. A book lovers dream!

If you’re like me and can’t wait for this year’s festivities, we have the perfect outlet for your excitement. Test your knowledge of the various authors appearing on the Writers Studio stage with this literary quiz. The answer key can be found at the end of this post. 

1. 9:45 a.m. – Jesmyn Ward is the most recent Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction honoree. Ward will discuss her body of work and receive the prize during this event. Ward has also won the National Book Award – twice! Which two of her books won in 2011 and 2017 respectively?  

A) Men We Reaped and Sing, Unburied, Sing

B) Sing, Unburied, Sing and The Fire This Time

C) Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing

D) Men We Reaped and Salvage the Bones

2. 10:50 a.m. – Three of NEA’s 2022 Literature Fellows will take the stage for “Past Pain, Future Hope: Perseverance in Literature.” Morgan Talty is one of the Fellows featured. His book Night of the Living Rez is a ________

A) Poetry collection

B) Short story collection

C) Memoir

D) Novel

3. 12:10 p.m. – Geraldine Brooks will discuss her new novel Horse. Brooks previously won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for which novel? 

A) March

B) Caleb's Crossing

C) Year of Wonders

D) People of the Book

4. 1:15 p.m. – Writers Lidia Yuknavitch and Kim Fu will be in conversation for “Bring on the Blur: Reality vs. Fantasy.” Fu will be discussing her short story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the _______.

A) Night

B) Mind

C) 21st Century

D) Forest

5. 2:35 p.m. – Nuar Alsadir will talk about her prose debut Animal Joy in this event. Nuar is a poet, writer, and _______

A) Podiatrist

B) Lawyer

C) Psychoanalyst

D) Zoologist

6. 3:40 p.m. – Diana Goetsch and Sarah Ruhl will participate in “My Body, Not My Self: Wrestling with Identity.” Goetsch, an NEA Literature Fellow, will discuss her memoir, This Body I Wore, but she is also the author of how many poetry collections?

A) Four

B) Ten

C) Two

D) Eight

7. 4:55 p.m. – Author and filmmaker Rebecca Miller will speak about her new short story collection, Total, on the Writers Studio stage. She is the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, who wrote all of the following except...

A) The Crucible

B) Death of a Salesman

C) This is Our Youth

D) All My Sons

8. 6:00 p.m. – The Writers Studio stage will wrap up with NEA Literature Fellow Linda Gregerson in conversation with the Washington Post’s Ron Charles. Gregerson is a Professor of English and MFA Director at which of the following schools?

A) University of Michigan

B) University of South Carolina

C) New York University

D) University of Southern California

Be sure to check out details of each event and the full Festival schedule on the Library of Congress website. While this year’s festival will take place in-person, some of the programs will be available for livestream (and you’ll be able to see an archive of the events on the Library of Congress website soon after the Festival ends). 

1. C

2. B

3. A

4. C

5. C

6. D

7. C

8. A