The Most Famous
WRITERS from Zambia
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Zambian Writers of all time. This list of famous Zambian Writers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Wilbur Smith (1933 - 2021)
With an HPI of 62.84, Wilbur Smith is the most famous Zambian Writer. His biography has been translated into 42 different languages on wikipedia.
Wilbur Addison Smith (9 January 1933 – 13 November 2021) was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specializing in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries. He gained a film contract with his first published novel, When the Lion Feeds, which encouraged him to become a full-time writer. He went on to write three long chronicles of the South African experience, which became best-sellers. He acknowledged his publisher Charles Pick's advice to "write about what you know best"; his work focuses on southern African ways of life, with emphasis on hunting, mining, romance, and conflict. By the time of his death in 2021, he had published 49 books. They have sold at least 140 million copies, 24 million of them in Italy (by 2014).
2. Peter Dickinson (1927 - 2015)
With an HPI of 49.92, Peter Dickinson is the 2nd most famous Zambian Writer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories. Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association for both Tulku (1979) and City of Gold (1980), each being recognised as the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. Through 2020 he is one of eight writers to win two Carnegies; no one has won three. He was also a highly commended runner-up for Eva (1988) and four times a commended runner-up. For his contributions as a children's writer Dickinson was a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2000.
3. Alan Rusbridger (b. 1953)
With an HPI of 33.47, Alan Rusbridger is the 3rd most famous Zambian Writer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist and editor of Prospect magazine. He was formerly editor-in-chief of The Guardian and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Rusbridger became editor-in-chief of The Guardian in 1995, having been a reporter and columnist earlier in his career. Rusbridger stood down from the post at the end of May 2015 and was succeeded by Katharine Viner. From 2015 to 2021, Rusbridger was principal of Lady Margaret Hall in the University of Oxford. He was appointed chair of the university's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2016. In 2020, Rusbridger was announced as one of the first members of the Oversight Board created by Facebook, with his appointment as the incoming editor of Prospect magazine announced in July 2021. He is an amateur pianist and published Play It Again, a book about his story of rediscovering the joy of performing Chopin Ballade No. 1 later in his life.
People
Pantheon has 3 people classified as Zambian writers born between 1927 and 1953. Of these 3, 1 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Zambian writers include Alan Rusbridger. The most famous deceased Zambian writers include Wilbur Smith, and Peter Dickinson. As of April 2024, 2 new Zambian writers have been added to Pantheon including Peter Dickinson, and Alan Rusbridger.
