Pam Webb

Throw, THORoh,ThRow–that is the question

image: pintrest (this expression is no doubt related to the tolerance and forebearance he withstands of mispronouncing his name)

It’s more than embarrassing to realize the mangling of pronouncing a word, let alone it’s the name of a significant author. Authoritative responsibility is lacking. Students expect me to know how to say it if I’m teaching it. It’s one thing is mispronounce a word from time to time (can’t quite get synecdoche to come out right–it always sounds like a city of the Jersey state) and try as I might I still mangle words from time to time, but I do need to be better prepared when it comes to introducing writers to my students. For starters, this author list is definitely helping me to reestablish my reputation for literary name dropping. 

NOTE: my first list inconveniently vanished–this is from  www.pegasusbookexchange.com

Chinua Achebe (CHIN-wah uh-CHEH-beh)

Isabel Allende (ah-YEN-day)

Maya Angelou (MY-uh AN-juh-loo)

Avi (AH-vee)

Albert Camus (ahl-BEHR kah-MOO)

Paulo Coelho (POW-loo KWEH-lyoo)

Michael Crichton (KRY-tun)

Junot Diaz (JOO-no DEE-as)

Cory Doctorow (DOC-tuh-roh)

John Donne (dun)

Ken Follett (rhymes with “wallet”)

Neil Gaiman (GAY-mun, rhymes with “Cayman” as in the islands)

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (YO-hahn VULF-gahng GUH-tuh)

Seamus Heaney (SHAY-muss HEE-nee)

Brian Jacques (like “jake”)

Jack Kerouac (like “care uh wack”)

John Le Carré (luh kah-RAY)

Vladimir Nabokov (vlah-DEE-mir nuh-BOH-koff)

Samuel Pepys (peeps)

Ayn Rand (first name rhymes with “mine”)

Rainer Maria Rilke (RY-nur mah-REE-uh RILL-kuh)

J. K. Rowling (like “rolling”)

Louis Sachar (rhymes with “cracker”)

Jon Scieszka (SHES-kuh)

Shel Silverstein (SIL-ver-steen)

Donald J. Sobol (SO-bull)

Henry David Thoreau (like “thorough”)

Paul Theroux (thuh-ROO)

J. R. R. Tolkein (TOLL-keen)

Evelyn Waugh (EVE-lin wah)

Elie Wiesel (elly vee-ZELL)

P. G. Wodehouse (like “woodhouse”): Merriam-Webster

Herman Wouk (like “woke”) 
If there are any other writerly pronunciations that are tricky, oh please send them my way.