Thanks to all who played our latest quiz on Baltimore-area authors. For those who were stumped, here are the answers:
1. A frequent heroine in Laura Lippman novels is former reporter (and Lippman alter-ego?) Tess Monaghan, whose greyhound is named Esskay.
2. Russell Baker worked at The Sun before becoming a commentator for The New York Times. His wonderful memoir about Baltimore is called Growing Up.
3. Anne Tyler, whose novels include The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe and Digging to America, often chronicles the love and conflict of family life.
4. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, became famous for a lecture that brimmed with hope even though he would soon die of cancer. It became The Last Lecture.
5. Tom Clancy, often credited with creating the techno-thriller, has had a string of hits including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games.
6. Baltimore-born Leon Uris, whose books include Exodus and Trinity, also wrote the screenplay for the movie Gunfight at the OK Corral.
7. Taylor Branch's trilogy - Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire and At Canaan's Edge - details the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s rise and the civil rights movement in America. Branch's singing group is called Off Our Rocker.
8. David Simon has described the challenges facing many city residents in books such as The Corner, and in the HBO series The Wire.
9. Michael Chabon grew up in Columbia, and his novels include The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
10. John Waters became notorious for such movies as Pink Flamingos and Mondo Trasho, but has won mainstream acclaim more recently for Hairspray.
Next Sunday in this column, we'll bring you an interview with Padma Viswanathan, the Johns Hopkins University-educated author of The Toss of a Lemon, a multigenerational saga based in India.