Z to A Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yevgeny Ivanovitch Zamyatin

Russian-born Zamyatin (1884-1937) was ultimately classified as being somewhat of a surrealist. He also helped organise the writers' group 'Serapion Brothers' after the Russian Revolution, and was a teacher and leader of the group. His major novel, "We" was completed in 1921. It depicts a dystopian future totalitarian state where everyone's life is strictly regulated and where everyone lived under round-the-clock police surveillance. It was banned, but he had the novel published abroad in translation, which earned him Stalin's wrath. Surprisingly, and aided by Maxim Gorky, he was allowed to leave the country in 1931 and spent his remaining years in France. (The novel was a major influence on George Orwell).

Stefan Zeromski (1864-1925) was a Polish fiction writer who had limited financial means and education, and became a castigated author after he published graphic novels and political dramas.

John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) was a German-born American journalist and printer. Some of his work was quite controversial and he was eventually brought to trial for seditious libel. Alexander Hamilton defended him and he was acquitted. This helped greatly to establish freedom of the press.

Maria Zambrano (1904-1991) was a Spanish philosopher and writer. She went into exile from Spain in 1939, returning in 1984 when the civil war was over. She wrote about politics, psychology, dreams and times. Her writings were considered poetic and engaging.

Answer: Yokomitsu Riichi

Yokomitsu Riichi (1889-1947)was a Japanese short story writer and novelist. He employed western style avant-garde techniques to give the modern touch to his writings.

Edward Young (1683-1765) was an English poet and playwright, best known for "Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality", a work written to defend Christian orthodoxy against freethinkers.

Al Young (1939- ) was an American novelist, screenwriter, editor and poet. While living in Detroit he wrote his best known work, "Snakes", in 1970; it concerns a young musician breaking into the business. His characters are written as elegantly ordinary people, and his works were prolific. He was made Poet Laureate of California in 2005.

Anzia Yezierska(1880?-1970) was an American author after immigrating from Maly Plok, Poland.. She was referred to as a "Sweatshop Cinderella" after her first collection of short stories, "Hungry Hearts", was published in 1970. Most of her work was about the lives and struggles of immigrants.

Answer: Xenophon

Xenophon (c 430-335 BC) joined a group of Greek mercenaries assembled by Cyrus the Younger for the purpose of overthrowing the kingdom of Artaxerxes. When Cyrus was killed, Xenophon led ten thousand Greeks back to the Black Sea. he wrote an account of his adventures, in which he was the hero, in "Anabasis".

Xerxes I (c 519-465 BC), was king of Persia (modern day Iran). He gathered a huge army and fleet, constructed a bridge of boats over the Hellespont and reached Athens. He was, however, forced to retreat after losing the Battle of Salamis.

Xantippe was the wife of Greek philosopher Socrates. Her reputation was that of a shrewish and disagreeable woman, and is still used to describe one such. This is why Socrates was seldom home.

Xenocrates (c. 560-478 BC) was a Greek philosopher.

Answer: Judith Arundell Wright

Judith Wright (1915-2000) was one of Australia's best-known poets. Her poetry deals with nature and her country's history. Her first publication was "The Moving Image", in 1946. She has also written several collections of short stories, children's books, and the non-fictional tale of her grandparents' settlement of Australia, "The Generation of Men" (1959).

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) was a noted American architect. He used modern materials, like concrete, unfinished wood, and stone to blend in well with natural surroundings. The Guggenheim Museum in New York City is an example of his odd geometrical, yet prudent use of modern/practical design.

James Wright (1927-1980) was an American poet. After the publication of his "Collected Poems" (1971) he was given the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. He and his followers wrote primarily around the theme of subjective imagery combined with subconscious elements.

Richard Wright (1908-1960) was an American novelist who relocated from rural Mississippi to Chicago in 1934. His powerful works entailed stories of the black man's reshaping at the hands of white men. His first published work was "Uncle Tom's Children" (1938), four novellas.

Answer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was an English composer. His music is usually described as typically English and derivative of classical and folk tradition. He wrote nine symphonies, some operas and shorter pieces and is best known for his "Fantasia" on "Greensleeves", an arrangement from one of his operas, "Sir John in Love".

Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) was born in South Wales. He was a metaphysical poet who later turned more to religious themes.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was an Italian architect, historian and painter. He was the architect of the Uffizi palace in Florence, and his historical "Lives of the Most Eminent Painters and Sculptors" is widely regarded as a fount of knowledge for the Renaissance period.

Sir Anthony Van Dyck {also Vandyck}(1599-1641) was a Flemish painter who studied for a short time under Peter Paul Reubens. In 1632 he settled in England and became court painter to Charles I.

Answer: Sigrid Undset

Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) won the Nobel Prize in 1928 in literature. She was Norwegian, and most of her early works center around Scandinavian family life in the middle ages. She also wrote the historical "Kristin Lavransdatter". Her later works are concerned more with religious philosophy after her conversion to Catholicism.

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) was an Italian poet; born and raised in Egypt, he was educated in France.

Fritz von Unruh (1885-1970) was a German playwright and short story writer; he figured prominently in the Expressionist movement. The rise of Nazism made him leave his homeland from 1932-1948. His "Der nie verlor" ("The end is not yet") was published in 1948 and is about Adolf Hitler.

Rodolfo Usigli (1905-1979) was a Mexican playwright. Most of his work is historical drama laced with political satire.

Answer: Tachtsis

Kostas Tachtsis (1927-1988) was also a translator of Aristophanes and modern Greek classics for the theatre. He was murdered in Athens in 1988, a crime which remains unsolved. He was a transvestite and purportedly held some 'secrets' regarding people in high places. The general consensus appears to be that he was considered dangerous and was permanently silenced in order to prevent him publishing "The Terrible Step".

Taliesin (Welsh for 'shining brow') flourished around 550 AD, and was said to be a bard who possessed the secret of prophetic poetry. His is still a semi-legendary person, as his birth, death and actual existence are not certain.

Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912) was a Japanese freestyle poet, the son of an excommunicated Buddhist priest. His life was characterised by poverty, a bad temper and poor health. He became increasingly isolated from society but his works, such as "A Handful of Sand" (1934) and "Sad Toys" (1977) were considered a major force in modernising poetry in Japan.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (1754-1838) was a French statesman, minister of foreign affairs from 1797-1807, and was made grand chamberlain in 1804 by Napoleon. After Napoleon's fall he help to restore the Bourbons to power. His 'memoires' were published in 1891. He represented France at the Congress of Vienna, where he managed to prevent a harsh settlement for France.

Answer: Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) worked principally in Chicago and he was an influence on Frank Lloyd Wright among others. He set out his theories in "Autobiography of an Idea" (1924), and "Kindergarten Chats" which was first serialised and in 1934 published as a whole.

Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) was an English composer best known for working with W.S Gilbert on their many operettas.

Frank Sullivan (1892-1976), was an American humorist and columnist for the New York World. He also contributed to the New Yorker magazine and had regular Christmas features published there.

Suleyman I (1496-1560) was known as 'the Magnificent'; he promoted the arts and sciences during his reign as Ottoman Sultan.

Answer: Christina Georgina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) published many poetic works and is associated with the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. "Goblin Market and Other Poems" was published in 1862, and several works for children and others followed. After a serious illness left her an invalid in 1874, she withdrew from society and rarely received guests.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) was a brother to Christina and William. He was an English poet and a painter. He had little formal training, and his best-known painting was probably 'Ecce Ancilla Domini' (1830), a representation of the Annunciation. "The Blessed Damozel" is likely his best-known poem.

William Rossetti (1829-1919) was an author and art critic. He also wrote biographies of his sister and brother, and all three were connected to the pre-Raphaelites.

Giaoachino Rossini (1792-1868) was the dominant operatic Italian composer of his time. "The Barber of Seville" (1816), "La Cenerentola" (Cinderella) (1817) and "William Tell" (1829) are among his best known works.

Answer: Raymond Queneau

Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) was a French critic, novelist and poet. His preferred style was puns and parody without strict adherence to grammatical accurancy. His "Exercises in Style" (1947) contained the same story written in 99 different modes, a satirical spoof.

Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968) was an Italian poet, translator and critic. His works pre WW2 were of a metaphysical style, but after the war dealt with social conditions, history and man's frustrations in his environment. Quasimodo won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1959.

Rachel de Queiroz (1910-2003) was a Brazilian journalist and novelist. Her novels dealt with social issues, women's rights, and some romances. She also collaborated with a few contemporary writers in Brazil on other works.

Francisco Gomez de Queveda (1580-1645) was a Spanish satirist, poet and moralist. When Queveda fell out of favor with the Italian government he was exiled to his estate in La Mancha. His past exploits involved killing a nobleman in a duel, and other frownworthy events, and he spent some time in prison - which did the same to him as prison did to Oscar Wilde - he left there a broken man. About 800 of his poems survive.

Answer: James Purdy

James Purdy (1914-2009) was an American novelist and short story writer, first recognised and helped by Dame Edith Sitwell in England, who called his first novella a masterpiece. She helped to get him published. Most of his work deals with twisted worlds and imperfect morals. He faced much criticism but had a strong group of followers which included Edward Albee, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, and Gore Vidal. Purdy won two Guggenheim Fellowships (1958 and 1962) and was awarded grants from both the Ford and Rockefeller foundations.

Alexsandr Pushkin (1799-1837) was a Russian poet, short story writer, novelist and playwright. He came from a good family, but still managed to stir up some controversy. He is best known for the novel-in-verse "Eugene Onegin" and the historical tragedy "Boris Godunov". After his marriage Pushkin clashed with a rival and was fatally wounded in a duel.

Edward Blouverie Pusey (1800-1882) was an Anglican theologian involved in the Oxford Movement. Most of his works were controversial and critical.

Thomas Pynchon (1937- ) was an American novelist whose themes consisted mainly of man's adverse adaptation to technological advances. His best known work is "Gravity's Rainbow" which follows his main theme down an ever darkening path. His work may have inspired David Lynch as well as the t.v. series "Desperate Housewives".

Answer: Sean O'Faolain

Sean O'Faolain (1900-1991) was an Irish biographer, novelist and short story writer. His first publication came out in 1932 and was followed by the novel "A Nest of Simple Folk" in 1933. Though most of his work is fictional, he also wrote biographies of Irish politician Eamon de Valera and Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell. His autobiography was entitled "Vive Moi".

Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) was an American art critic, poet and playwright. He worked at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC, and his essays on paintings and sculptures, as well as his reviews for "Art News" were very well written and received. He associated with artists such as Jackson Pollock, Larry Rivers and Jasper Johns. Frank put into words what the artists had put on canvas.

Lilian Uduardy O'Donnell (1926-2005) was an American mystery writer, and used female detectives, bringing insight into the plight of females in a previously male-dominated occupation.

Mary Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was an American novelist and short story writer from Georgia. The American south was the setting for most of her fiction and she incorporated some of the conflicts of religious beliefs into southern society and country life. She died of lupus at a fairly young age.

Answer: Reinhold Niebuhr

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was an American theologian. He spent thirteen years as a pastor in Detroit, and became interested in the labor movement there. As a member of the Socialist movement in the 1930s, he dealt with the failure of Christianity to address social problems. Abuse of power was another theme he criticised and he wrote many essays on the lack of the church's support for the common man. He is considered one of the more influential thinkers and writers of his day.

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish engineer and industrialist. He became a wealthy man from his discoveries of synthetics and explosives, but when he was referred to as a 'merchant of death', in a premature obituary, he did not want to be remembered solely for dynamite, but set aside $9,000,000 for the Nobel Prize establishment. He tried his hand at writing but was not successful.

Anais Nin (1903-1977) was a French-born American writer. Her novels explored topics considered sensational at the time, relationships between fathers and daughters, and sexual themes. She also wrote some erotic books in the 1940s.

Abioseh Nicol was the pseudonym of Dr. Davidson Nicol (1924-1994), a writer from Sierra Leone. His career as university administrator and in medicine was greatly respected. He was later appointed by his country as ambassador to the United Nations. Nicol's writings were primarily about African life, in poems and short stories.

Answer: Walter M. Miller Jr.

Walter Michael Miller Jr. (1923-1996) was an American sci-fi writer. The above novel was published in 1959 and established him as excellent in his field. This is a post-apocryphal novel, in which a group of monks try to understand the meanings of the remnants of the prior civilization. Among his other works are collections of short stories, "Conditionally Human" (1962) and "The View from the Stars" (1964).

Joaquin Miller (pseudonym of Hiner Miller) (1837-1913) was a poet. He was a typical westerner, but overemphasized that image in his trip to London (1870) complete with cowboy boots and sombrero. His deliberately ghastly manners greatly enhanced the British negative image of pioneer Americans.

Henry Miller (1891-1980) was an American writer, and spent nine years in France, where he wrote "Tropic of Cancer, "Tropic of Capricorn" and several others. He was a prolific and controversial author, and traveled widely.

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright, novelist and short story writer. His "Death of a Salesman" earned him a Pulitzer prize. "The Crucible" and "A View from the Bridge" (1955) confirmed his reputation and he produced several other writings, plays, essays and the screenplay for the film "The Misfits" (1961).

Answer: Jonas Lauritz Lie

Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie (1833-1908) was a Norwegian poet, playwright and novelist. "Den Fremsynte" is translated as "The Visionary" and "Trold" as "Troll". The latter mixed real and imaginary elements. Lie also wrote many stories of family life.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-) was an American painter in the abstract expressionist genre. In the 1960s he was one of the innovators of 'pop art', some of which included bizarre comic strip style. He created his own versions of some other painters' works, such as Monet and Mondrian.

Meyer Levin (1905-1981) was an American novelist and journalist. He is best known for his stories of American-Jewish life. His novel "Compulsion" (1956) is an examination of the Leopold and Loeb murder case.

Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919) was a German socialist leader. He and Rosa Luxemburg (1870-1919) founded the 'Spartacist' party in opposition to the German war politics in WWI. They started a proletariat uprising in 1919 and both were murdered.

Answer: Valentin Petrovich Katayev

Katayev (1897-1986) composed rather freely, and his poems, novels, short stories and plays were not within the accordance of the rules set by the then government and were considered controversial. The Soviet authorities kept watch on him despite the fact that he was a wounded veteran of WWI and later served in the Red Army.

Kamenev (1883-1936) was a leader in the Soviet communist party, and formed a triumvirate with Stalin and Zinovyev after Lenin died. By 1928 Stalin had seized all the power and his partners were 'purged'.

Karamzin(1766-1826) was a Russian writer and historian. He wrote many romances and incorporated French style and terms to make Russian less solemn.

Kerensky (1881-1970) was a Russian revolutionary leader, and was the head of the provincial government set up after the extinction of the last Romanovs. He fled to Paris after being overthrown by the Bolsheviks late in 1927.

In Russia, the patronymic (middle) part of a person's name refers to his/her father, the suffix -ovich/-ovitch being a son, and -ovna being a daughter. Thus Petrovich is the son of Peter and Petrovna his daughter.

Answer: James Jones

James Jones (1921-1977) was an American writer. Jones had enlisted in the peacetime U.S.Army where he garnered much of his material for his books. The first book begins with the period before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It incited some criticism for the use of street language but won the National Book Award. The trilogy follows the lives of four infantrymen originally in Honolulu, and is followed by "The Thin Red Line" (1962) and "Whistle" (1978). As Jones had died before finishing the concluding volume, his friend Willie Morris put it together and published it for him posthumously.

Inigo Jones (1573-1652) was an English architect, as well known for his designs of elaborate sets, costumes and stage machinery. His architectural work is known for its grace and elegance, based on classical Renaissance style.

Douglas Gordon Jones (1929- ) was a Canadian literary critic and poet. His verse is characterised by sparsity and lyrical flow. Most of it deals with nature.

David Jones (1895-1974) was an Anglo-Welsh author and artist. He was also a diligent engraver and printer. He is best known for his long poem on WWI, "In Parenthesis" (1937).

Answer: John Winslow Irving

John Irving (1942- ) was an American novelist , essayist and short story writer. His early novels were well received and showed a European influence, but he later changed his focus to more emotionally stirring subjects. "The World According to Garp" (1978) was both comic and tragic and elicited an enormous response from readers. He followed with "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1981), "The Cider House Rules" (1985) and "A Prayer for Owen Meany" (1989), all of which were well received but never met the popularity of 'Garp'.

Schlomo Ibn Gabirol (c. 1021-1055) was an orphaned Spanish poet and philosopher. His writings use many Hispano-Arabic conventions. He recognised his own talent and had no use for those who didn't. His most remembered poems are the religious ones, some found generations after his death.

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) was a Japanese haiku poet. He had a light touch and wrote affectionate stories of some unpopular creatures such as frogs, sparrows and fleas. In his prose, such as "The Year of My Life" he wrote in a more tragic tone.

Fazil Abdulovich Iskander (1929- ) was a poet, short story writer and novelist. He was born in Soviet Abkhazia near the Black Sea. Iskander poked fun at bureaucracy, and when he was twice nominated for the Lenin Prize for his novel "The Goatibex Constellation" it was summarily rejected. Before 'perestroika', his writings were barely acknowledged in his native country. His more recent works include "Rabbits and Boa Constrictors" (1989). He has since won many prizes for literature and is often referred to as the 'Russian Mark Twain', though his parentage made him Iranian and Abkhazian, he wrote in Russian.

Answer: Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) portrayed excellent demonstrations of mood and scene, some with a sense of alienation. His "Nighthawks" (1942) was a forerunner of the pop art movement.

Alec Derwent Hope (1907-2000 ) was an Australian poet. His poetry reflects the 17th and 18th century modes. His "Collected Poems", 1930-1970 exhibits a wide range of moods, angst, revolt against modernism, and some alienation. His works were considered controversial in Australia.

Richard Hooker (1554-1600) was a leading English theologian in the Elizabethan era. His magnum opus was "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" (1593-1597). He is also known for his many eloquent sermons, such as "A Remedy Against Sorrow and Fear" delivered at a funeral.

Thomas Hood (1799-1845) was an English poet and humorist. His self-suggested epitaph reads, "Here lies a man who spat more blood and made more puns than any man living". The actual one is "He sang the Song of the Shirt". His wit encompassed joyousness rather than controversy in spite of a life of poverty and illness. His "The Song of the Shirt" (1843) was a serious social protest.

Answer: Jean Genet

Jean Genet (1910-1986) was also a novelist and a colorful individual. He was openly gay, a pimp, and a thief. He spent many terms in jail from the age of ten onward. With the aid of John-Paul Sartre, Jean Cocteau and others he escaped life imprisonment in 1947. Most of his writings were partially autobiographical and had tinges of the underworld he had come to know. His grace and style, however, made them quite popular. He is considered an absurdist and much of his work deals with man's frustrations with society and coming to grips with reality.

Geoffrey of Monmouth (c.1100-1155) was a Medieval English historian and a canon at Oxford. He is considered by many to be the creator of the King Arthur legend.
His "History of the Kings of Britain" is written in Latin prose and is considered his greatest work.

Stefan George (1868-1933) was a German poet who was influenced by the writings of Nietzsche. Apart from his own writings he was also a tireless translator of Shakespeare, Dante, Baudelaire and the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

John Gay (1685-1732) was an English playwright and poet. He was a member of the 'Scriblerus Club' and a friend of Alexander Pope. His "The Beggar's Opera" was a satirical jab at Sir Robert Walpole and the establishment in general. He enjoyed parodying other writers.

Answer: Christopher Fry

Born Christopher Harris in 1907, he became Fry when he was writing. His plays were considered comedies, but always had an undertone of solemnity. This may have been due to his Quaker upbringing and his inner feelings against it. He also wrote historical drama such as the relationship and conflict between King Henry VIII and Thomas A Becket. His religiously themed pieces lessened in popularity when the Realism movement began. Fry died in 2005.

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was an English Quaker philanthropist and prison reform promoter, particularly for women. In 1847 her 'Memoirs' were published.

Roger Fry (1866-1934) was an English painter and art critic. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, and a promoter of some relatively new artists such as Cézanne. At one time he was curator for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. His biography was written by Virginia Woolf in 1940.

Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was a Canadian literary critic, who wrote extensively on many author's works. He was primarily concerned with the relation of reader to writer, society to literature and the importance of maintaining that close relationship. He also wrote "The Eternal Act of Creation" (1993), a collection of essays.

Answer: Maria Edgeworth

Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) was an Irish novelist who tended to write in the tradition of Jane Austen, and drew authentic literary pictures of Irish life. Among her works are "Belinda" (1801), "Vivian" (1812) and "Ormond" (1817). She was friends with Sir Walter Scott, who may have been influenced by her "Castle Rackrent". She is also noted as one of the first authors to write novels intended for children.

Jose Echegaray (1832-1916) was a Spanish dramatist. He had been a trained mathematician and later founded the Bank of Spain. He wrote almost seventy plays and was very popular. In 1904, he shared the Nobel Prize in literature with Frederic Mistral.

Leon Edel (1907-1997)was a Canadian-born American critic and biographer. He wrote a five volume biography of Henry James for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Kerstin Ekman (1933- ) was a Swedish author who started writing mystery novels and later turned to writing about the changes over time in a typical Swedish town, primarily focusing on the working class women and their perceptions. She excelled in all her writings and was awarded the Nordic Council's Literary Prize in 1994 for her novel "Blackwater". She was only the second woman ever admitted to the Swedish Academy (1978) and was active until 1989, when she resigned in protest of the Academy's stance on the Salmon Rushdie affair.

Answer: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Tsitsi Dangarembga (1959- ) is a Zimbabwean playwright and novelist and considered one of the most promising of the new African writers. Her writing combines the cultural and social effects of colonisation on the extended African family; in the first novel this takes place in Rhodesia. Her play "She no Longer Weeps" has been performed publicly.

Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer, "Clair de Lune" and "Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune" probably his best known works. The latter came under some criticism for its accompanying performance, which was deemed overly erotic by some. "Pelleas et Melisande" was his only opera.

Willem de Kooning (1904-1997 ) was a Dutch-born American artist who helped to inspire abstract impressionism. He was awarded the Andrew W. Mellon prize in 1979.

Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) was a French painter, using historical and literary themes. He was known for his use of rich colors and after a visit to North Africa in 1832, his palette became even more vibrant and imaginative.

Answer: Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus (87-c.54 BC) was a Roman lyric poet. He was charming and brilliant but made some unfortunate alliances and enemies. By the age of thirty, Catullus was penniless and emotionally bankrupt, and finally, in 57 BC, broke off his relationship with the young and unscrupulous Clodia, sister to Clodius Pulcher. He then traveled with a friend, visited his brother's grave, where he wrote the ode ending in, "Frater, ave atque vale" (Brother, greetings and farewell). There are 116 of his poems still existing, mostly love ballads and venomous attacks on his enemies.

Marcius Portius Cato, the Elder (234-249 BC) was a Roman statesman and grandfather to Cato the Younger(95-46 BC), also a statesman. The Elder was a vehement foe of Carthage and ended all of his speeches in the senate with "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed). Three years after his death Carthage was at last leveled, and no longer a threat to Rome.

Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antonius) (AD 188-217), was a Roman emperor (211-217), who seized power with the aid of his brother whom he later had killed. His reign was marked by cruelty and deceit.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) was a Roman statesman and orator. He first came to prominence under the dictatorship of Sulla around 80 BC. He studied in Greece and Rhodes for two years and returned to Rome where he was elected Quaestor and later Aedile. Cicero became famous after bringing and winning a case against Verres, and was elected Praetor in 67. He later made some dangerous enemies and had his properties seized while he went into exile. On his return he backed the wrong horse (Pompey) against Julius Caesar. He retired from public life and wrote many books. He later made some questionable alliances, and crossed Octavius (Augustus Caesar). When he fled from Rome, his head and hand were returned to the city by an angry mob. He is still considered Rome's greatest orator.

Answer: Avicenna

Avicenna (aka Abn-Ali al-Hussein ibn-Sina ca. 980-1037) was a Persian physician and philosopher. His al-shifa (Book of Recovery) shows the influence of Aristotle and includes sections on physics, metaphysics and logic.

Assur-bani-pal (d. ca. 626 BC) was a king of Assyria. His twin brother, Samus-sum-yukin ruled Babylonia. Assurbanipal is considered one of the greatest leaders of his time, dominating other tribes and even subjugating his brother's revolt. He was so engaged in domination of his lands that he over-reached the assets he had and left a faltering kingdom on his death.

Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010) was an American writer, essayist and biographer. He was an attorney and a prolific writer. His biographies include those of Louis XIV, Queen Victoria, Henry James and Edith Wharton, among others.

Kofi Awooner (aka George Awooner Williams) (1935-2013) was a Ghanaian poet, critic, novelist and diplomat. His many works include "This Earth My Brother" (1971) "Night of My Blood" (1971) and several others. He is considered a major African poet.