Aug 19, 2025

Authors Who Started As Journalists

Aanya Mehta

Ernest Hemingway

Before becoming a Nobel Prize winning novelist, Hemingway worked as a journalist for The Kansas City Star and later as a war correspondent. His crisp, direct style of reporting greatly influenced his literary voice, seen in works like The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Source: wikipedia

Gabriel García Márquez

The Colombian master of magical realism began as a reporter for local newspapers. His journalistic eye for political and social issues deeply informed his novels like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Márquez once said journalism was “the best job in the world.”

Source: wikipedia

Joan Didion

Didion started her career at Vogue as a staff writer before transitioning into essays and novels. Her journalistic rigor combined with personal reflection gave birth to classics like Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The Year of Magical Thinking.

Source: wikipedia

George Orwell

Known for 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell worked as a journalist and essayist for years. His political reporting and keen social observations infused his fiction with urgency, clarity, and sharp critique of power.

Source: wikipedia

Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, worked as a typesetter and reporter before writing the great American classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His humor and wit were first sharpened in his journalistic sketches.

Source: wikipedia

Ernest J. Gaines

Before becoming the acclaimed author of A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines contributed essays and journalistic pieces that explored race, identity, and community. His journalistic background grounded his fiction in authenticity and social critique.

Source: wikipedia

Khushwant Singh

An iconic Indian author and columnist, Singh started as a journalist before becoming editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India and The Hindustan Times. His sharp wit, bold opinions, and eye for human detail shaped works like Train to Pakistan.

Source: wikipedia

Rudyard Kipling

Best known for The Jungle Book and his poetry, Kipling began as a reporter for The Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore at the age of 17. His journalistic experiences in India directly inspired the vivid settings and political undertones of his later works.

Source: wikipedia

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