| Stephen King | Horror | The Shining, IT, Misery | Viking/Scribner | Bram Stoker Award, National Medal of Arts | https://stephenking.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King | 1974 | America's most prolific horror author. Over 350 million copies sold worldwide. |
| Toni Morrison | Fiction | Beloved, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye | Knopf | Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize | https://tonimorrison.org | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3585.Toni_Morrison | 1970 | Nobel laureate. Beloved is considered one of the greatest American novels. |
| Malcolm Gladwell | Non-Fiction | Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point | Little Brown | None listed | https://gladwellbooks.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1439.Malcolm_Gladwell | 2000 | Explores social science and psychology for general audiences. Each book coined widely-used concepts. |
| J.K. Rowling | Fantasy | Harry Potter series | Scholastic | British Book Awards | https://jkrowling.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1077326.J_K_Rowling | 1997 | Harry Potter is the best-selling book series in history with over 500 million copies sold. |
| George R.R. Martin | Fantasy | A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire & Blood | Bantam | Hugo, Nebula | https://georgerrmartin.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/346732.George_R_R_Martin | 1977 | A Game of Thrones was the basis for HBO's Game of Thrones series. |
| Colleen Hoover | Romance | It Ends with Us, Verity, November 9 | Atria | GoodReads Choice Awards | https://colleenhoover.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4196779.Colleen_Hoover | 2012 | #BookTok phenomenon. Dominates GoodReads charts. It Ends with Us spent 350+ weeks on NYT bestseller list. |
| James Patterson | Thriller | Alex Cross series, Maximum Ride | Little Brown | Edgar Award | https://jamespatterson.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3610.James_Patterson | 1976 | World's best-selling living author. Has sold over 425 million books worldwide. |
| Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Fiction | Americanah, Half of a Yellow Sun | Knopf | Orange Prize, MacArthur Fellowship | https://chimamanda.com | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11654.Chimamanda_Ngozi_Adichie | 2003 | Nigerian author. TED talk We Should All Be Feminists has been viewed millions of times. |