1. Which award–winning writer did not turn up to collect either of his two Booker prizes and has been known to attend dinner parties without uttering a word?

   1. Peter Carey

   2. Thomas Keneally

   3. JM Coetzee

   4. Graham Swift

2. In which town of New Hampshire did the most famous literary 'recluse' JD Salinger stay hidden by locals for over 50 years?

   1. Derry

   2. Cornish

   3. Merrimack

   4. Stratham

3. Which writer didn't leave her family home for 20 years and even avoided her father's funeral?

   1. Emily Dickinson

   2. Louisa May Alcott

   3. Virginia Woolf

   4. Mary Shelley

4. To what lengths did Marcel Proust go to achieve adequate confinement in the last three years of his life?

   1. Emigrated to rural Corsica

   2. Dyed his hair

   3. Disposed of his telephone

   4. Darkened and soundproofed his room

5. Which of these did NOT take place during the notorious 'recluse' Cormac McCarthy's brief emergence into the spotlight in 2007?

   1. An author's cameo in the film adaptation of his novel No Country for Old Men

   2. A television appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show

   3. Attendance at the Academy Awards ceremony

   4. Publication of a conversation between McCarthy and the Coen brothers in TIME

6. Which writer made several animated appearances on The Simpsons in response to his media-manufactured image as a recluse?

   1. Samuel Beckett

   2. Bill Watterson

   3. Thomas Pynchon

   4. Denis Johnson

7. What is said to be used by the reclusive novelist John Twelve Hawks to prevent his editors finding out his identity?

   1. A wig

   2. A voice scrambler

   3. Zorro mask

   4. Gloves

8. 'Well, it's better to be silent than be a fool' was said by which writer, known for her handwritten refusals for interview requests?

   1. Harper Lee

   2. Joyce Carol Oates

   3. Beatrix Potter

   4. Agatha Christie

9. Almost two decades after his last novel, how did the reclusive novelist John Fowles surprise the world in 2003?

   1. Ran for Parliament

   2. Switched to a career in performance poetry

   3. Published his diaries

   4. Opened his home to the public

10. What was Don DeLillo's response to an academic who had tracked him down in Greece?

    1. He dedicated his next work to the literary stalker

    2. He handed over a business card reading 'I don't want to talk about it'

    3. He called the police

    4. He ran him over with a moped, yelling 'I'll show you the life of the mind!'

Solutions

1:C, 2:B, 3:A, 4:D, 5:A, 6:C, 7:B, 8:A, 9:C, 10:B

Scores

1. 3 and above.

   Is anybody home, except all those books you haven't read? Spend less time outdoors trying to be photographed and on TV, and curl up with a good read

2. 6 and above.

   A quietly respectable score – not quite resembling a anchorite-grade, but certainly not too flashy!

3. 8 and above.

   Brilliant stuff - and don't keep it to yourself. Post your results on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – with a selfie attached