I have been a massive fan of Enid Blyton since I could read and it seems I'm not alone. A recent poll by Costa, of both children's and adult's books, places Enid Blyton as the best loved author of all time.
Interestingly Roald Dahl is in second place and JK Rowling in third, both children's authors, showing perhaps that we associate out favourite reads with our childhood. [via Mail Online]
Carry on over the cut for the top twenty.
- Enid Blyton
- Roald Dahl
- JK Rowling
- Jane Austen
- William Shakespeare
- Charles Dickens
- JRR Tolkien
- Agatha Christie
- Stephen King
- Beatrix Potter
- CS Lewis
- Catherine Cookson
- Martina Cole
- Bill Bryson
- Charlotte Bronte
- Jacqueline Wilson
- Oscar Wilde
- Maeve Binchy
- Dan Brown
- Emily Bronte
By my reckoning, that's 11 women and 9 men...
Other writers in the top fifty were
Jackie Colins (21) Margaret Atwood (24) Marian Keyes (26) Danielle Steel (31) Judy Blume (33) Jodi Picoult (34) Jilly Cooper (47) Beryl Bainbridge (48)