How well do you know these famous literary destinations?
Can you remember these authors’ famous birthplaces, favourite writing spots and well-known novel settings? If you think you can, this quiz is for you…
Let’s test your knowledge of some of the world’s great writers – of classic fiction, modern novels, beloved travelogues and poetry – and their most iconic destinations of note.
This includes famous birthplaces, literary hot spots around the world, and well-known novel settings. We’ve thrown in a couple of tricky questions just to make it extra difficult, too. You’d have to be a true travel nut AND extremely well-read to get every single question right, so we’ll be impressed if you can score even half.
Whatever your score, we hope the quiz inspires you to read some classics, pick up a travelogue or two and get the creative juices flowing for your own travel writing. Enjoy!
Question 1 of 22
1. Which author is well-known to have lived in Bath, using the city as a setting for her books Northanger Abbey and Persuasion?
Question 2 of 22
2. In the 1930s, Robert Byron published The Road to Oxiana, often considered one of the first great travelogues. But where is (or was) Oxiana?
Question 3 of 22
3. Ernest Hemingway lived in numerous countries throughout his life. Do you know where he wrote his Segovia-set classic, For Whom The Bell Tolls?
Question 4 of 22
4. Elizabeth Gilbert’s travel memoir Eat Pray Love took her to three, life-changing destinations. Which of these is NOT one of them?
Question 5 of 22
5. JK Rowling famously began writing the Harry Potter series in Edinburgh. The café known as its ‘birthplace’ is named after an animal. Can you name it?
Question 6 of 22
6. The USA is full of literary destinations, but which city is famous as the birthplace of poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou?
Question 7 of 22
7. You’re in Europe, searching for the snowy town from Franz Kafka’s famously-unfinished novel, The Castle. Where would you find it?
Question 8 of 22
8. Hiromi Kawakami’s novel Nakano Thrift Shop is set in modern day Japan. But where is Nakano, exactly?
Question 9 of 22
9. One of our favourite travel books is Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. Which small island is he referring to?
Question 10 of 22
10. This famous thriller series, originally written by Stieg Larsson as a trilogy, is set in the city of Stockholm. It’s even had two movie adaptations, one is Swedish and one in English. Can you remember it’s name?
Question 11 of 22
11. Tangier, Morocco has featured in many excellent travel books and novels. Which of these is NOT one of them?
Question 12 of 22
12. Kolkata, India is regarded as an unofficial cultural and literary capital, not least because it’s the home of the first non-European person to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. Can you name the writer?
Question 13 of 22
13. One Chilean city seems to be the birthplace for many of the country’s best-known writers, including José Donoso and Roberto Bolaño. Which city is it?
Question 14 of 22
14. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is located on the bank of the River Thames in London, but where did the playwright grow up in England?
Question 15 of 22
15. James Joyce reportedly wrote his novel Ulysses in three different cities. Which of these WASN’T one of them?
Question 16 of 22
16. George Orwell is widely known for his dystopian novel 1984, but his first book was set in a country that, today, many travellers would love to visit. Can you remember the book’s name?
Question 17 of 22
17. The Brontë sisters, Emily and Charlotte, were born in Thornton, Yorkshire – but which Yorkshire town is known best as their ‘home’?
Question 18 of 22
18. Sir Michael Palin’s first travel tome was Around The World in 80 Days. But where did his most recent (2019) travel ‘journal’ take him?
Question 19 of 22
19. Alain Mabanckou’s Broken Glass focuses on a fictional bar called Credit Goes West. It’s set in the author’s country of birth. Which country is it?
Question 20 of 22
20. Finally, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley (his dog) involves a road trip around which part of the world?
Question 21 of 22
21. We all know Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (1937), but in which ancient Egyptian city was Death Comes as the End (1944) based?
Question 22 of 22
