Surprise! These Famous Authors Are Best Friends Forever Of Each Other

Reputed authors are often those who have a diverse life. Their relationships and experiences are priceless materials to bring their works to the limelight, and many have found inspiration from their best friends who are also famous writers.

Today, let’s take a look at close friends in the book world and read how they met each other, then together made themselves a household name.

J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis friendship

This is probably the most famous pair on our list. Tolkien is the author of The Lord of the Rings, one of the most successful book-to-movies in history while Lewis is the brain behind Out of the Silent Planet. It’s not an exaggeration to say that their remarkable success could be attributed to their friendship.

On May 11, 1926, Lewis came across Tolkien at a meeting arranged by Oxford English faculty. Surprisingly, the duo didn’t have affection for the other at first sight. Lewis even wrote in his diary that “No harm in him, only needs a smack or two.”

However, given their common passion in writing, the two gradually became friends and close friends later. They even formed their own group to discuss others’ literary named The Inklings. Tolkien and Lewis often commented each other’s work, contributing to both successes later.

Harper Lee and Truman Capote friendship

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird was close friend of Truman Capote and even involved in a major controversy around her book and this relationship.

Truman Capote was a reputed non-fiction novelist with Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the crime novel In Cold Blood. Many of his novels have been transferred into movies and dramas on the screen. Truman used to live with his cousins when he was a child. That cousin happened to be Harper Lee’s friend, and that’s how the two authors met.

After Harper Lee gained widespread popularity for her historic book To Kill a Mockingbird, people rumored that it’s Truman that heavily edited or even wrote the book with her. This claim, however, was just an underestimation of female writers because a letter by Truman himself to his aunt said that he read Harper’s book and he liked it very much. Truman also commented that his friend was talented in the letter dated one year before the book was published.

Toni Morrison and James Baldwin friendship

Toni Morrison was the world-renowned author for her Song of Solomon book. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature. Meanwhile, James Baldwin was a bold author who raised complex questions about racial and social distinctions in Western societies.

The two admitted they were strongly influenced by the other, especially Toni Morrison who wrote to Baldwin that “How strengthened I was by the certainty that came from knowing you would never hurt me?” Or “How I relied on your fierce courage to tame wilderness for me?”

Their friendship started when Toni Morrison came to Random House for a book deal. James Baldwin was working as an editor there at the time and Morrison tried to convince him to sign the deal but he didn’t agree. Despite that contract failure, the two talked to each other and became friends of a lifetime.

Those are the most famous and strongest bookish bonds in history. In fact, there were many friendships in the book world but not all of them could stand the test of time. Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen used to be good friends of each other but all of a sudden, they parted away and never made up.

Whatever the ending is, these friendships definitely help to sharpen the writing skills and bring more materials to these famous authors works. Thanks to these bonds, we have legends to admire.

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