Books and Authors — Important List for Exams with PYQs

Books and Authors is a pure recall topic — a book is named, you give the author, or the reverse. One question appears in almost every SSC and Railway paper, and the same set of about fifty titles keeps returning. This post separates them the way exams ask them: autobiographies of leaders, classical and ancient works, modern Indian writing, and the recent political and sports books that current affairs sections favour. Fifteen real questions from past papers are at the end.

1. Autobiographies and memoirs of leaders

This group is asked more than any other, because the books are tied to people already in the history syllabus.

Two pairs cause most of the errors. The Discovery of India and An Autobiography are both Nehru's, and options often place them together. And Wings of Fire is Kalam's autobiography, while India 2020 is his vision book — different questions, same author.

2. Ancient and classical works

Kalidasa and Banabhatta each have two entries in this list, and exams exploit that by pairing one of each in the options. Fix both titles for both authors.

3. Modern Indian writers and award winners

The Booker winners are worth learning as a set, because questions often ask which Indian-origin writer won the Booker for a named book. Tagore and Premchand each have two titles in this table, for the same reason as the classical list.

4. Recent and current-affairs books

These rotate faster than the rest, and they appear in the current affairs part of the GK section rather than static GK.

The sports memoirs are the most reliable group here — Playing It My Way and Unbreakable have both appeared repeatedly. Shashi Tharoor, like Nehru and Kalam, contributes more than one title.

5. How it is asked in exams — 15 PYQs

1. Who wrote The Discovery of India? — Jawaharlal Nehru (SSC CGL 2023)
2. Arthashastra was written by? — Kautilya (Chanakya) (SSC CHSL 2023)
3. Who wrote the autobiography Wings of Fire? — APJ Abdul Kalam (SSC MTS 2023)
4. Gitanjali was written by? — Rabindranath Tagore (RRB NTPC 2024)
5. India Wins Freedom was written by? — Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (SSC CGL 2022)
6. Rajatarangini, a history of Kashmir's kings, was written by? — Kalhana (SSC GD 2024)
7. Who wrote Anandamath? — Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (SSC CHSL 2024)
8. The God of Small Things was written by? — Arundhati Roy (SSC CPO 2023)
9. Abhijnanashakuntalam was composed by? — Kalidasa (RRB Group D 2024)
10. Playing It My Way is the autobiography of? — Sachin Tendulkar (SSC MTS 2024)
11. Who wrote Godan? — Munshi Premchand (SSC CGL 2024)
12. Indica was written by? — Megasthenes (RRB NTPC 2025)
13. Harshacharita was written by? — Banabhatta (SSC GD 2023)
14. Train to Pakistan was written by? — Khushwant Singh (SSC CHSL 2022)
15. Unbreakable is the autobiography of? — Mary Kom (RRB Group D 2023)

6. Quick Revision

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote India Wins Freedom, Nehru or Azad?

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. It is his account of the events leading to Partition and independence. The confusion arises because Nehru wrote several well-known books of the same period — The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History and An Autobiography — and options often place them alongside Azad's title.

Which Indian writers have won the Booker Prize?

Among Indian and Indian-origin writers, Salman Rushdie won it for Midnight's Children in 1981, Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things in 1997, Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss in 2006, and Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger in 2008. Learning them as one set answers most Booker questions.

Is Wings of Fire written by Kalam alone?

It was co-authored with Arun Tiwari, though exams almost always key the answer as APJ Abdul Kalam, since it is his autobiography. Kalam's other frequently asked title is India 2020, a vision document rather than a memoir.

Which ancient text was written by a foreign visitor?

Indica, by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador sent by Seleucus Nicator to the court of Chandragupta Maurya. It survives only in fragments quoted by later writers, and it is the standard answer when a question mentions a foreign account of Mauryan India.

How many questions come from books and authors in exams?

Usually one per paper in SSC and Railway exams, sometimes two when a recent book appears in the current affairs section. About fifty titles cover nearly everything asked, and since the static ones never change, one revised sheet keeps working across every exam.

For more Static GK lists in simple language, see our First in India post and the Static GK section. Preparing for a specific exam? Start with the UPSC CDS guide or join the 100 Hour GS Course.