Hi everyone, I hope you’ve been enjoying the Authors A to Z reading challenge so far! We’re a quarter of the way through the year (!!), and I thought I’d ask about your progress. How many books have you read? Are you on track? Have you discovered any new authors? Do tell all, and link your progress page/s–I’d absolutely love to know!

On my part, I’ve been a little swamped by many work commitments, and have only managed to read 7 books that qualify for the challenge. Of these, I’ve not yet pushed myself to go out of my comfort zone, but I suspect that as I progress further in the challenge, I’ll be picking up books I wouldn’t usually read. And that’s an exciting thought indeed! You can find my progress list here.

Here’s my list for the 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge, which I’ll update throughout the year.

Completed on: 31 December 2015!

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A massive thanks to those who have signed up for the 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge—I hope you’re all as excited as I am to dig into those delicious books!

A few of you have commented on the difficulty of finding Q, X, and Z authors, and I thought I’d compile a list of suggestions. Q and Z were surprisingly easy to find (as evidenced by a browse through my local library and Oxfam bookshop), but X has been quite a tricky one indeed.

Q: Anthony Quinn; Karen Quinn; Julia Quinn; Amanda Quick; Erica Quest; Matthew Quick, Ellery Queen (thanks, Karen!). Also check out Wiki.
X: XU Xi; XUE Xinran; Malcom X (thanks, Lisa!).
Z: Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Paul Zindel; Markus Zusak; Cecily von Ziegesar; Helen Zahavi, Emile Zola; Gabrielle Zevin (thanks, Karen!). Also check out Wiki.

If you know of any other authors, please let me know in a comment and I’ll add it to the list. Hope this helps!

Update (2 June 2015): Since X has been causing a bit of strife, any author with X in their last name (not necessarily as the first letter) qualifies for the challenge. Hope that’ll make things a little more manageable!

After spending the past year working on Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book’s Alphabet Soup Challenge (for which I’m nearing completion–you can follow my progress here), I had a brainwave and thought I’d like to do something similar next year, but this time for authors instead of book titles. And so, with great pleasure and excitement, I’d like to announce that I will be hosting the 2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge!

– The challenge runs from 1 January to 31 December 2015
– Read a book written by authors with last names from A to Z, and try to collect every letter of the alphabet
– Only last names count, so William Shakespeare would fall under S, not W
– Speaking of Shakespeare, the books you read may fall under any form/genre: prose, poetry, drama; fiction, non-fiction, academic monographs…
– Your books don’t have to be “physical” either–ebooks and audiobooks are more than welcome!
– Crossovers with other challenges and re-reads are also more than welcome!
– You do not need to have a blog or review the books in order to participate–having a list somewhere (such as GoodReads) is fine
– Sign-ups are open till 30 November 2015
– Come December 2015, I’ll be making a post for you to submit your completed challenges. Here’s the post! If you manage to finish by 31 Dec 2015, then you’ll be in the running for a booktastic prize draw!

How to join:

– If you’re a blogger, grab the challenge banner and link back to this post to help spread the word and encourage others to join! Fill out the form below, and include a link to your challenge sign-up post (not to your overall blog).
– If you’re a non-blogger, keep track of your authors list any way you wish (I know quite a few people start up a challenge bookshelf on Goodreads), and use the form below to fill out your details (and perhaps a link to your challenge bookshelf, if you’re setting one up).

If you want to follow my blog, I may post special challenge-related announcements throughout the year; alternatively, just check back during December 2015. I have compiled a list of author suggestions for Q, X, and Z, which you can find here. I’ll be participating in the challenge too, and in case you’re interested, here’s my list. If you have any other questions, please feel free to drop me a comment.

And that’s it, really! Happy reading, and all the best with the challenge!

Update (2 June 2015): Since X has been causing a bit of strife, any author with X in their last name (not necessarily as the first letter) qualifies for the challenge. Hope that’ll make things a little more manageable!

Finished the challenge? Submit your completion post here!