Authors whose first name starts with Z

Zadie Smith

19 books• 1 series

Zadie Smith is an English novelist and essayist. The debut novel White Teeth (2000) opens a catalogue of 19 books running to 2025, which takes in The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2005), NW (2012), Swing Time (2016) and the essay collections Changing My Mind (2009) and Feel Free (2018). Immigration, ethnic relations, male friendship and social isolation recur as subjects. Smith remains actively publishing.

Zane writes erotic fiction centred on African American women and their relationships. The catalogue holds 29 books published between The Hot Box (1996) and Vengeance in 2015, among them Addicted (1998), The Sex Chronicles (2000) and the Chocolate Flava anthologies. Sisters, college life and sexual behaviour run through the subjects, and nothing later than 2015 is catalogued.

Zane Grey

144 books• 13 series

Zane Grey, born Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939), was an American author of adventure novels and stories in the Western genre who presented an idealised American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was Grey's best-selling book. Adaptations of Grey's novels and stories number 112 films, two television episodes and the television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. The catalogue opens with Betty Zane (1903), followed by The Spirit of the Border (1906), The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), The Last Trail (1909) and The Heritage of the Desert (1910). Outlaws, cattle stealing, Mormons and fishing appear among the subjects, and series include the Ohio River Trilogy, Ken Ward and Jim Traft.

Zara Cox writes erotica. Twenty-eight books are catalogued between 2013 and 2026, from High (2013) to The Savage (2026). Five series divide them: the Indigo Lounge, Mortimers: Wealthy & Wicked, the Mile High Club, Mafia Rivals and Five Blood Thrones. Wreckless (2013), Higher (2014), Soar (2014), Spin (2014), Spiral (2014), Freefall (2015), Indigo Velvet (2015), Beautiful Liar (2016) and I, Porn Star (2016) fill out the early run. Cox is still publishing.

Zecharia Sitchin wrote the Earth Chronicles, a non-fiction sequence arguing extraterrestrial influence on ancient civilisation. The 12th Planet (1976) opens the run, followed by The Stairway to Heaven (1980), The Wars of Gods and Men (1985), Genesis Revisited (1990) and The Lost Book of Enki (2001). Ancient history, the Bible, cosmogony and human-alien encounters are the subjects. Sixteen titles are catalogued through 2015.

Zoe Blake has 60 books in the catalogue, from Daddy's Home (2017) to Cruel Protector (2026), with Ashes of Austen scheduled for 2027. Series include Ruthless Obsession, Ivanov Crime Family, Gilded Decadence, Cavalieri Billionaire Legacy, Diamanti Billionaire Dynasty, Dangerous Daddy, Bad Babygirls, Dark Fantasy and Shadows of Pemberley. Titles from 2017 and 2018 include Fight Me, Daddy, Papa's Prey, Broken Doll, Damaged Doll and Red and the Wolves.

Zoe Chant has 271 books catalogued between 2015 and 2026, and shapeshifters give their name to many of the series: Virtue Shifters, Fire & Rescue Shifters, Bodyguard Shifters, Green Valley Shifters and Gray's Hollow Dragon Shifters among them. Bears of Pinerock County, Glacier Leopards, Shifting Sands Resort and Protection, Inc. are other series. Bear Down, Bear Watching and Alpha Lion date from 2015, and Bear My Heart (2026) is the newest title.

Zoe Dawson's catalogue runs to 85 books, from A Perfect Mess (2012) to Breakneck (2026). Early titles include Groomed, Leashed, Collared and Fetched, alongside A Perfect Mistake (2013) and A Perfect Dilemma (2014). Series credited to Zoe Dawson include SEAL Team Alpha, SEAL Team Tier 1, SEAL Team EAST, Going to the Dogs, Hope Parish, Laurel Falls and Forbidden Plays. New titles continue to appear.

Charlie Fox, a bodyguard, is Zoe Sharp's recurring character, and the thrillers built around Fox run from Killer Instinct (2001) through First Drop (2004), Third Strike (2008) and Fourth Day (2010). Thirty books are catalogued to The Girl in the Dark (2024), taking in the Lakes Crime Thrillers, the Blake & Byron Thrillers, standalone novels and two runs of short stories. Kidnapping, missing persons, undercover operations and women private investigators are the recurring subjects.

Zoey Draven writes alien romance, and the titles name the pairing: The Alien's Lover (2017), The Alien's Mate (2017), Captive of the Horde King (2019). The Alien's Prize (2017) opens 28 catalogued books that reach A Wolfe in the Woods (2026). Six series divide the run: Warriors of Luxiria, Horde Kings of Dakkar, Brides of the Kylorr, Krave of Everton, Warrior of Rozun and Hordes of the Elthika.

Zoje Stage is an American writer from Pittsburgh who came to fiction from screenwriting, holding fellowships from the Independent Filmmaker Project and the New York Foundation for the Arts. The debut novel, Baby Teeth (2018), also issued as Bad Apple, has been optioned for film. Seven books are catalogued to 2026, among them Wonderland (2020), Getaway (2021), Mothered (2023) and Dear Hanna (2024). Mothers and daughters, suspense and horror are the recurring subjects.

Zora Neale Hurston

50 books• 1 series

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 to January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist and documentary filmmaker. Hurston depicted racial struggle in the early 20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo and Caribbean Vodou. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is the most popular of the four novels. Hurston also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, the autobiography, ethnographies and essays. Catalogued titles include Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Mules and Men (1935), Tell My Horse and Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), among 50 books.