50+ Important Books and Authors for Competitive Exams (PDF)

Okay, here’s the thing Books and Authors GK is one of those topic you think you will just “do later”… untill the exam hits you with: “Who wrote The Discovery of India?” and you are left starting at the paper like it’s mocking you.

Exams like SSC, UPSC, Banking, and even those dreaded Railway ones; love asking about literature. Why? Maybe because books are like mirrors of time, or maybe examiners just enjoy torturing us with trivia. Who knows.

But trust me, if you get this section right (and it’s not that hard), you basically earn free marks. And who doesn’t love free marks?

Anyway, this is not just boring list of books and authors. I will mix in some context, some memory hacks, and probably a rant or two (I still can’t belive The God of Small Things was published back in 1997, it feels like yesterday). Let’s dive in.

Famous Books and Authors – The “Don’t-Skip” List

Here’s a quick (well, not so quick) table. Memorize famous books and authors. Or at least pretend to.

Notice something? Half of these names show up again and again in exams, it’s like examiners have a crush on Nehru, Tagore, Tharoor, and Rushdie.

Rolling List – New & Trending Books and Authors (2025)

If you have been preparing for SSC, UPSC, Banking, Railways, or even defence exams for a while, you already know the drill: examiners love to ask about recently launched books and their authors. These questions are usually one liners, but they carry that same 1 mark as any other. And sometimes, they catch students off-guard because the book is too new.

So here’s a 2025 rolling list you can keep checking. It’s like your personal “Books and Authors current affairs” feed.

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Honourable Mentions – Books You Might See in Exams

Alright, so here’s the deal. Every year, examiners like to shake things up by tossing in a name or two that’s not in the “usual suspects” list. These are the books you don’t always find in every guidebook, but they have got a decent chance of appearing in upcoming exams because of their cultural or current relevance. Consider this the “Bonus round” of your prep.

Sometimes , one unexpected book can throw you off completely, so knowing at least a few of these can give you an edge.

Award-Winning Works (because prizes = exam hot topics)

Award add glamour and examiners love glamour. A couple that always show up:

• The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize, 1997)
• The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga (Booker Prize, 2008)
• The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai (Booker Prize, 2006)
• Gitanjali – Ravindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize, 1913; India’s first Nobel in literature!)

Books and Their Authors Quiz

Test your static GK (Books and Authors) with this quiz.

Download Famous Books and Authors PDF

Download the complete list of International and Indian Books and Authors.

Why Does Every Exam Love This Section?

I sometimes wonder if paper-setters get a secret bonus for sneaking in Books & Authors questions. Think about it:

• They’re short, easy-to-check answers.
• They test memory more than reasoning.
• And they can be updated every year with “new books” like Exam Warriors (2018) or random biographies that suddenly trend on X (Twitter).

Remember when Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way came out in 2014? Boom suddenly every banking exam wanted to know who wrote it. And last year, questions popped up about Raghuram Rajan’s I Do What I Do. See? Current affairs and static GK overlap here.

Wrapping Up (Books and Authors)

Here’s the truth Books and Authors GK can feel like cramming, but it’s not that bad. Once you go through the list two-three times, it sticks. Unlike current affairs, which change faster than Instagram trends, this topic is relatively stable.

That said, keep an eye out for newly launched books political memoirs, sports autobiographies, even Bollywood biographies. They love asking those.

So yeah, don’t skip it. Treat this list as a quick reference, quiz yourself when you’re bored, and remember sometimes one silly question about who wrote Midnight’s Children could be the difference between qualifying and… well, not.

And if nothing else, at least you’ll sound smart at parties when you casually drop “Oh, you didn’t know Shashi Tharoor wrote An Era of Darkness?” 😉