1. Shami Chakrabarti: Jeremy Corbyn appointed a barrister and political biographer as shadow solicitor general this autumn. His book subjects include which historical Labour figure?

   1. Ernest Bevin

   2. Clement Attlee

   3. Ellen Wikinson

2. Kamila Shamsie: Which 19th-century novelist expressed a wish to “exterminate the race” of Indians following the 1857 Mutiny in India?

   1. William Makepeace Thackeray

   2. Charles Dickens

   3. George Eliot

3. Linda Grant: What is the occupation of baby Octavia’s father in Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone?

   1. BBC announcer

   2. Professor of linguistics at UCL

   3. Theatre critic

4. Linda Grant: In Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March an officer turns the face of the emperor to the wall in:

   1. An art gallery

   2. A brothel

   3. A lavatory

5. Kate Summerscale: Which of these books has not been banned in China?

   1. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

   2. Dr Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham

   3. George Orwell’s Animal Farm

6. Sarah Perry: Which Booker prize-winning novel shares its title with a work by the poet Matsuo Bashō?

   1. The Famished Road

   2. The Ghost Road

   3. The Narrow Road to the Deep North

7. David Kynaston: Where did WH Auden claim he had the best martini cocktail?

   1. Ashby-de-la-Zouch

   2. Budleigh Salterton

   3. Weston-super-Mare

8. Marina Lewycka: In James Joyce’s Ulysses, what does Leopold Bloom always carry in his pocket for luck?

   1. A conker

   2. A potato

   3. A penny

9. Ian Rankin: In which 2016 novel would you find an Inspector Rebus fan called Gala Milburn?

   1. Mount! by Jilly Cooper

   2. Betrayal by Martina Cole

   3. Love You Dead by Peter James

10. Will Self: “Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his big thrill, I would set him in chains at the top of the hill … ” Who is “Brother Bill”?

    1. Big Bill Broonzy

    2. William Borroughs

    3. Bill Oddie

11. AL Kennedy: Which rerelease this year was a reminder of how good Rachel Ferguson’s writing is?

    1. A Lighthouse for the Meadows

    2. A Footman for the Peacock

    3. An Inkwell for the Parson

12. Charlotte Mendelson: How many books did David Bowie (below left) take to Mexico for the shoot-ing of The Man Who Fell to Earth?

    1. 1

    2. 400

    3. 7

13. George Szirtes: “Just now a magnetic storm hung in the swatch of sky / Over the Fudds’ garage, reducing it – drastically – / To the aura of a plumbago-blue log cabin on / A Gadsden Purchase commemorative cover.” Are we in the company of:

    1. Donald Duck

    2. Daffy Duck

    3. Dick Dastardly

14. Geoff Dyer: Rowan Oak was the home of which American writer?

    1. Flannery O’Connor

    2. Eudora Welty

    3. William Faulkner

15. Alex Bellos: In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff says: “They say there is divinity in ... ”

    1. odd numbers

    2. even numbers

    3. prime numbers

Solutions

1:B, 2:B, 3:A, 4:B, 5:C, 6:C, 7:A, 8:B, 9:A, 10:B, 11:B, 12:B, 13:B, 14:C, 15:A

Scores