The Ladder

Every ballot counted · rankings move with every vote

1. 24Dr. SeussWriters14–31643
2. 105Stephen KingWriters11–31592
3. 200J.D. SalingerWriters12–51566
4. 230Ralph EllisonWriters11–51557
5. 246Langston HughesWriters8–61554
6. 254Harper LeeWriters12–81552
7. 261Kurt VonnegutWriters10–51550
8. 286Octavia ButlerWriters7–31545
9. 320Ray BradburyWriters7–41539
10. 325Michael CrichtonWriters8–51537
11. 363Toni MorrisonWriters7–41529
12. 388Maya AngelouWriters6–41525
13. 400James BaldwinWriters7–51523
14. 425Alice WalkerWriters7–61520
15. 495John SteinbeckWriters6–51507
16. 583Isaac AsimovWriters5–51489
17. 598Sylvia PlathWriters7–71486
18. 667Truman CapoteWriters4–71473
19. 706Tom ClancyWriters7–81465
20. 710Philip K. DickWriters8–111465
21. 714Hunter S. ThompsonWriters4–71464
22. 721Charles BukowskiWriters6–81462
23. 731Joan DidionWriters7–101460
24. 738Jack KerouacWriters5–71458
25. 774Cormac McCarthyWriters3–71451
26. 792Arthur MillerWriters4–91447
27. 814Joseph HellerWriters7–111441
28. 859Norman MailerWriters3–91432
29. 880Tennessee WilliamsWriters2–81427
30. 881Shel SilversteinWriters5–121427
31. 895Nora EphronWriters3–111423
32. 898Noam ChomskyWriters2–81423
33. 901Tom WolfeWriters4–91423
34. 911Richard WrightWriters4–121420
35. 915Allen GinsbergWriters6–141419
36. 940William F. Buckley Jr.Writers2–81413
37. 952Gore VidalWriters4–131409
38. 997Thomas PynchonWriters7–191389
39. 1042Ursula K. Le GuinWriters2–141352