This is a list of atheist authors. Mentioned in this list are people whose atheism is relevant to their notable activities or public life, and who have publicly identified themselves as atheists.
Authors A–B
Jason Aaron (born 1973): American comics writer, known for his work on The Other Side, Scalped, Ghost Rider, Wolverine and PunisherMAX.Sims, Chris (December 3, 2012). "War Rocket Ajax #138: Jason Aaron Talks 'Thor: God Of Thunder'" . ComicsAlliance. Forrest J Ackerman (1916–2008): American writer, historian, editor, collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters. Douglas Adams (1952–2001): British radio and television writer and novelist, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."I am a radical Atheist..." Adams in an interview by American Atheists . 9 Dushyant (born 1977): Indian poet, lyricist, author Javed Akhtar (born 1945): Indian poet, lyricist and scriptwriter.Spirituality, Halo or Hoax – Javedakhtar.com, Spirituality, Halo or Hoax, 26 February 2005. "There are certain things that I would like to make very clear at the very outset. Don't get carried away by my name – Javed Akhtar. I am not revealing a secret, I am saying something that I have said many times, in writing or on TV, in public ... I am an atheist, I have no religious beliefs. And obviously I don't believe in spirituality of some kind. Some kind. "NDIA Today Conclave – February 26, 2005", retrieved April 4, 2012 Adalet Ağaoğlu (1929–2020): Turkish author and activist."Ben Allah'a inanmam, ben öldüğümde cesedimi yakın, küllerimi savurun. (Eng. I don't believe in God, when I die, burn my remains and scatter my ashes.) Tariq Ali (born 1943): British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner and commentator."It is well known that I am not a religious person, I grew up and remain an atheist". Tariq Ali, Interview: Tariq Ali , Socialist Review November 2006 (accessed April 22, 2008). Jorge Amado (1912–2001): Brazilian author.Amado is described as an "ateu convicto", or "convinced atheist". Eric Ambler, OBE (1909–1998): English writer of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre."Once, filming in Italy with the American director John Huston and a US army crew, Ambler and his colleagues were shelled so fiercely that his unconscious 'played a nasty trick on him' (Ambler, Here Lies, 208). A confirmed atheist, he heard himself saying, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' " Michael Barber: 'Ambler, Eric Clifford (1909–1998)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, January 2007 (accessed April 29, 2008). Kingsley Amis (1922–1995): English novelist, poet, critic and teacher, most famous for his novels Lucky Jim and the Booker Prize-winning The Old Devils."His son Martin, who led the ceremony, said: 'His relationship with the Christian God was not entirely frictionless.' In 1962 (the Russian poet) Yevtushenko asked him 'Are you an atheist?' He replied: 'Well, yes – but it's more that I hate Him.' ", John Ezard, "Secular send-off for an 'old devil' who did not want too much fuss over his funeral", The Guardian (London), October 23, 1996, p. 8. Seth Andrews (born 1968): American author and host of The Thinking Atheist radio podcast. He is the author of two books, Deconverted (2012) and Sacred Cows (2015). Philip Appleman (1926–2020): poet, novelist and professor emeritus of English literature.On Moyers and Company, 6 July 2012, Appleman described himself as "not just an atheist but a humanist." Antonin Artaud (1896–1948): French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director. Known for The Theatre and its Double."Artaud's theories are phrased in a strongly poetical language that betrays an acute awareness of modernity's disenchanted life-world, but, at the same time, is obsessed with reviving the supernatural. His profoundly atheist religiosity (if we may call it so) obviously presents great problems to scholarship." Thomas Crombez: Dismemberment in Drama/Dismemberment of Drama – Chapter Two – The Dismembered Body in Antonin Artaud's Surrealist Plays. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Isaac Asimov (1920–1992): Russian-born American author of science fiction and popular science books."I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it... I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time." Isaac Asimov in "Free Inquiry", Spring 1982, vol.2 no.2, p. 9 (See Wikiquote.) Diana Athill (1917–2019): British literary editor, novelist and memoirist who worked with some of the writers of the 20th century."Last week, looking through a book about 15th-century painting in Italy, I began to wonder why I loved these paintings so much. Almost all of them are illustrations of religious subjects, and I have been an atheist almost since the day I was confirmed in the Christian faith by the Bishop of Norwich in 1931. To describe the atheism first: it originated in a certainty that I was going to start breaking the rules as laid down by the god I'd been taught about, followed by a suspicion that if his rules were so easy to break he couldn't be all that he was cracked up to be. Then came its firmer base: the observation that many of the most hideous things done to each other by human beings have been done in his name. It can be argued that this is our fault, not God's. But the god we Europeans are supposed to believe in a) created us as well as everything else that is; b) is omnipotent; c) is Love. In which case, one must assume from the evidence rammed down our throats for century after century that he is liable to fits of serious derangement during which he is Not Himself." Diana Athill, 'I'm a believer – but only in a good story', The Guardian, January 21, 2004, Features Pages, p. 5. James Baldwin (1924–1987): American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic."Rather than tackle Baldwin's atheist stance, Malcolm found a point of departure on the question of identity, stating that he was "proud to be a black man."" Herb Boyd, Baldwin's Harlem: a biography of James Baldwin (2008), page 75. J. G. Ballard (1930–2009): English novelist, short story writer, and prominent member of the New Wave movement in science fiction. His best-known books are Crash and the semi-autobiographical Empire of the Sun. Iain Banks (1954–2013): Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks."I'm an evangelical atheist so I'm not into supernatural effects – I hated The Exorcist – but John Carpenter's remake of The Thing is different." "I was a brain-eating zombie... As the scary season descends ... famous horror experts choose their most terrifying screen experiences", The Daily Telegraph, October 30, 2004, Arts p. 4. Known especially for a collection of ten science-fiction novels and anthologies called The Culture series. Henri Barbusse (1873–1934): French novelist, journalist and communist politician. Julian Barnes (born 1946): English writer. Barnes won the Man Booker Prize for his book The Sense of an Ending (2011). Dave Barry (born 1954): American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. Barry is the son of a Presbyterian minister, and decided "early on" that he was an atheist. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986): French feminist writer and existentialist philosopher, who was the author of She Came to Stay and The Mandarins.Thurman, Judith. Introduction to Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. Excerpt published in The New York Times 27 May 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010. Gregory Benford (born 1941): American science fiction author and astrophysicist."Evil and Me", Benford; in 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, ed. Russell Blackford and Udo Schuklenk, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, pp. 157-60. Toni Bentley: Author of The SurrenderOnce Forbidden, Now Championed; Toni Bentley, a former ballerina, is the author of The Surrender by Charles McGrath, October 15, 2004, The New York Times and Sisters of Salome.Toni Bentley Biography webpage Pierre Berton, CC, O.Ont (1920–2004): Noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist."Berton's book, The Comfortable Pew, in which as a lifelong atheist he attacked status quo religiosity, outraged churchgoers. But the wider public came to expect to be challenged by Berton's views." Cathryn Atkinson, 'Obituary: Pierre Berton', The Guardian, December 7, 2004, p. 27. Annie Besant (1847–1933): British author, orator, and activist who, about her conversion to atheism, She wrote, "The path from Christianity to Atheism is a long one, and its first steps are very rough and very painful." Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922): English poet, writer and diplomat."Wilfred Scawen Blunt was notorious as an atheist, a libertine, an adventurer and a poet. Somehow he also found time to be a diplomat – one of the earliest in this country to make a real attempt to understand Islam – and an anti-imperialist, becoming the first British-born person to go to jail for Irish independence." Phil Daoust, The Guardian, March 11, 2008, G2: Radio: Pick of the day, p. 32. William Boyd, CBE (born 1952): Scottish novelist and screenwriter." "What song would you like played at your funeral?" "We'll Meet Again. I'd like the congregation to join in. As a devout atheist, I should make it clear there are no religious connotations." " Rosanna Greenstreet, 'Q&A: William Boyd', The Guardian, February 3, 2007, Weekend Pages, p. 8. Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891): British author, orator, and politician who "abandoned Christianity for atheism" to "become the most powerful British propagandist for atheism." Lily Braun (1865–1916): German feminist writer."Passionate and enthusiastic, Lily was converted to atheism, pacifism, and feminism by Georg von Gizycki, whom she married in 1893." 'Braun, Lily', Encyclopædia Britannica Online (accessed August 1, 2008). Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956): German poet, playwright, theatre director, and Marxist. Howard Brenton (born 1942): English playwright, who gained notoriety for his 1980 play The Romans in Britain.Reviewing a production of The Romans in Britain, Charles Spencer wrote: "It strikes me as an exceptionally powerful study of the human need for belief in a higher power, notwithstanding the fact that Brenton himself is an atheist. And the dramatist examines the nature of Paul's faith with both sympathy and insight." 'A powerful and thrilling act of heresy', The Daily Telegraph, November 10, 2005, Reviews, p. 30. André Breton (1896–1966): French writer, poet, artist, and surrealist theorist, best known as the main founder of surrealism.Reviewing Mark Polizzotti's Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton Douglas F. Smith called him, "[a] cynical atheist, the poet, critic, and artist harbored an irrepressible streak of romanticism.""To speak of God, to think of God, is in every respect to show what one is made of.... I have always wagered against God and I regard the little that I have won in this world as simply the outcome of this bet. However paltry may have been the stake (my life) I am conscious of having won to the full. Everything that is doddering, squint-eyed, vile, polluted and grotesque is summoned up for me in that one word: God!" – André Breton, taking from a footnote from his book, Surrealism and Painting. Quotations by the poet: Andre Breton