Best Writers of All Time, the List

There have been many great writers and novelists in world history. To come up with the list of the best writers of all time is no ordinary task. The job is complicated by the fact that not everyone shares the same taste and preference. A writer may be adored by some, while is despised by others. In this article, I will share my imperfect list of the best writers ever. The list is presented in no particular order. Feel free to challenge it.

1. William Shakespeare (English poet and playwright)

No discussion with regards to the subject of the best writers of all time can be complete without a mentioning of the great William Shakespeare. The famous English poet and playwright is arguably the most influential writer in world literature. His 38 plays and 154 sonnets have served as inspirations for numerous works of literature. The Shakespearean brand is extremely popular around the world. No literary person would be oblivious of Shakespeare and his acclaimed works.

Shakespeare was particularly renowned for his tragedies, Hamlet and Macbeth to name a few. His best and most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, was regarded by many as the greatest love story in literature. In addition to being a masterful playwright, Shakespeare was also a terrific poet; his sonnets were widely acknowledged as the precursor to modern love poetry. William Shakespeare is, without question, the best playwright and poet in world's history.

2. Leo Tolstoy (Russian novelist)

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Leo Tolstoy was a person of grand ideas. His novels were fine specimens of those ideas. Tolstoy's best novel (titled War and Peace) is, without a doubt, the most significant novel in Western literature. I was once told by my high school teacher, "If a learned man spends a lifetime without reading War and Peace, he is not a learned man." To underscore his point, my high school teacher even gave me a certificate in recognition that I had completed my reading of the masterpiece novel. War and Peace embodies everything that was Leo Tolstoy-his ingenious skills, realist beliefs, and idealistic visions.

It should be noted that Leo Tolstoy was not a one-hit wonder. His other works, most notably Anna Karenina, were equally as good. But Leo Tolstoy will forever be remembered for War and Peace-history's greatest novel. He is deservedly one of the best writers of all time.

3. Louis Cha (Chinese wuxia writer)

Throughout its history, China has produced some of the greatest writers ever. In fact, any one of the country's best writers could easily rival Shakespeare and Tolstoy. Louis Cha (penname Jin Yong) is one of these writers.

Louis Cha is nicknamed "the Father of Wuxia" and for very good reasons. Cha is single-handedly responsible for the popularity of Wuxia or martial art fiction. He published 15 works in all; almost all of them were best-sellers. His novels have been adapted (numerous times) into films, TV series, stage plays, comics, and video games. The characters of his novels are part of popular culture. They are being referenced quite often in a wide array of media. Louis Cha is so well-known in Asia and in Chinese-speaking communities around the world that it has often been quoted, "If you don't know who Jin Yong is, you are not a Chinese person." Indeed, Louis Cha is one of the best writers of all time.

4. Victor Hugo (French poet and writer)

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If we could give Victor Hugo a title that best describes his literary achievements, we would call him "The Activist Writer". Indeed, Victor Hugo was not the typical writer. Almost every one of his novels was written not to entertain the masses, but to educate and empower them. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame put the social problems of the time on trial. Hugo was never hesitant in exposing what he perceived as unjust and perverse, and he did it in the most public ways possible-in words and in deeds. Victor Hugo strongly believed that a writing that is without a voice is one of lesser worth. The great novelist was interchangeably a writer and a revolutionary. He will be remembered as such.