List of English Writers - W

W

• Thomas Wade (1805–1875), poet and playwright
• Lucy Wadham (born 1964), novelist and journalist
• Rekha Waheed (living), novelist
• John Wain (1925–1994), poet and novelist
• Daniel Wakefield (1776–1846), political economist
• Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796–1862), writer, colonist and politician
• Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801), scholar and controversialist
• H. Russell Wakefield (1890–1964), novelist and story writer
• Priscilla Wakefield (1871–1832), educational writer and philanthropist
• Robert Wakefield (died 1537), linguist and scholar
• George Waldron (1690 – c. 1730), topographer and poet
• Arthur Waley (1889–1966), orientalist and translator
• Alan Walker (born 1930), biographer, musicologist and broadcaster
• Charles Walker (fl. 1860s), religious writer
• Charles Curwen Walker (1856–1940), Christadelphian writer and editor
• George Walker (c. 1581–1651), religious writer and cleric
• George Walker (c. 1734–1807), dissenting writer and mathematician
• George Walker (1772–1847), novelist and political writer
• George Walker (1803 – post-1851), chess writer
• Obadiah Walker (1616–1699), scholar and writer on education
• Ted Walker (1934–2004), poet, dramatist and broadcaster
• Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), naturalist and biologist
• Edgar Wallace (1875–1932), novelist and playwright
• Helen Wallace (born 1946), writer on current affairs
• Ian Wallace (living), ornithologist
• John Graham Wallace (born 1966), children's writer and illustrator
• Nick Wallace (born 1972), novelist, Fear Itself (Doctor Who)
• Robert Wallace (1791–1850), religious writer, biographer and Unitarian minister
• William Wallace (born 1941), scholar and writer on government
• J. M. Wallace-Hadrill (1916–1985), historian
• Edmund Waller (1606–1687), poet
• John Waller (1917–1995), poet and anthologist
• David Walliams (born 1971), children's writer and comedian
• John Wallis (1616–1703), mathematician and writer
• Martin Walls (born 1970), poet and journalist
• Leo Walmsley (1892–1966), novelist and autobiographer
• Horace Walpole (1717–1797), novelist and man of letters, The Castle of Otranto
• Horatio Walpole (1678–1757), political writer and politician
• Hugh Walpole (1884–1941), novelist
• Helen Walsh (born 1977), novelist
• Jill Paton Walsh (born 1937), novelist and children's writer
• John Henry Walsh (also wrote as Stonehenge, 1810–1888), writer on field sports
• Sheila Walsh (1928–2009), novelist
• William Walsh (1663–1708), poet and critic
• Guy Walters (born 1971), novelist and journalist
• Hugh Walters (1910–1993), novelist
• Minette Walters (born 1949), novelist
• Vanessa Walters (born 1978), novelist and playwright
• Izaak Walton (1593–1683), writer, The Compleat Angler
• William Walwyn (1600–1681), pamphleteer
• Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726), scholar and palaeographer
• Henry Wansbrough (living), religious writer, Bible translator and RC monk
• William Warburton (1698–1779), critic and bishop
• Barbara Ward (1914–1981), economist and environmentalist
• Chris Ward (born 1958), playwright
• Edward Ward (1660 or 1667–1731), satirist and tavern keeper
• Keith Ward (born 1938), philosopher and cleric
• Mrs. Humphry Ward (born Mary Augusta Arnold, 1851–1920), novelist
• Robert Ward (fl. 1611), AV translator and cleric
• Robert Plumer Ward (1765–1846), lawyer, legal writer and novelist
• Samuel Ward (1572–1643), scholar, AV translator and cleric
• Seth Ward (1617–1689), controversialist, astronomer and bishop
• Thomas Humphry Ward (1845–1926), writer and journalist
• William George Ward (1812–1882), theologian and mathematician
• Marina Warner (born 1946), novelist
• Rex Warner (1905–1986), novelist and translator
• Richard Warner (c. 1713–1775), botanist and scholar
• Richard Warner (1763–1853), topographical writer, antiquary and cleric
• Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893–1978), novelist and poet
• William Warner (c. 1558–1609), poet and translator
• John Warren, Lord de Tabley (1835–1895), poet and botanist
• Samuel Warren (1807–1877), novelist and barrister
• Thomas Herbert Warren (1853–1930), scholar and poet
• Tony Warren (born 1936), screenwriter and novelist
• Joseph Warton (1722–1800), poet and critic
• Thomas Warton (c. 1688–1745), poet and professor of poetry
• Thomas Warton (1728–1790), Poet Laureate and critic
• Robin Waterfield (born 1952), translator from Greek and classical scholar
• Andrew Waterhouse (1958–2001), poet and environmentalist
• Ellis Waterhouse (1905–1985), art historian and editor
• Gilbert Waterhouse (1883–1916), poet and architect
• Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009), novelist and screenwriter, Billy Liar
• Rachel Waterhouse (born 1923), historian and consumer activist
• Sarah Waters (born 1966), novelist
• Charles Waterton (1782–1865), naturalist and explorer
• Denys Watkins-Pitchford (wrote as BB, 1905–1990), naturalist and children's writer
• David Watmough (born 1926), playwright and novelist
• Colin Watson (1920–1983), novelist
• E. L. Grant Watson (1885–1970), writer and biologist
• James Watson (born 1936), children's writer, playwright and writer on media
• Richard Watson (1781–1833), Methodist theologian
• Richard Watson (1737–1816), religious and economic writer and bishop
• Rosamund Marriott Watson (wrote as Graham R. Tomson, 1860–1911), poet and garden writer
• Thomas Watson (1555–1592), poet and translator
• Thomas Watson (c. 1620–1686), religious writer and preacher
• William Watson (1858–1935), poet
• Winifred Watson (1906–2002), novelist
• Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864), poet, journalist and editor
• Isaac Watts (1674–1748), hymn writer, O God, Our Help in Ages Past
• Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914), critic, novelist and poet
• Alec Waugh (1898–1981), novelist
• Auberon Waugh (1939–2001), novelist and journalist
• Edwin Waugh (1817–1890), dialect poet
• Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), novelist, travel writer and diarist, Brideshead Revisited
• Camilla Way (born 1973), novelist and editor
• Willoughby Weaving (1885–1977), poet
• Clifford Webb (1895–1972), children's writer and illustrator
• Mary Webb (1881–1927), novelist and poet, Precious Bane
• Philip Barker Webb (1793–1854), botanist and traveller
• Sidney Webb (1859–1947), and Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), economists and political writers, Industrial Democracy
• Augusta Webster (1837–1894), poet and playwright
• John Webster (c. 1580–1634), playwright, The Duchess of Malfi
• Camilla Wedgwood (1901–1955), anthropologist
• C. V. Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian
• Ernest Weekley (1865–1964), philologist
• Samantha Weinberg (born 1967), novelist, travel writer and politician
• Arabella Weir (born 1957), writer and actor
• Denton Welch (1915–1948), novelist, diarist and artist
• Ronald Welch (real name Ronald Oliver Felton, 1909–1982), novelist, children's writer and teacher
• Fay Weldon (born 1931), novelist and screenwriter
• Dorothy Wellesley (1889–1956), poet and editor
• Charles Jeremiah Wells (c. 1798–1879), poet
• H. G. Wells (1866–1946), novelist and social critic, The War of the Worlds
• Leonard Welsted (1688–1747), poet
• Louise Wener (born 1966), novelist and singer
• Arnold Wesker (born 1932), playwright, Chicken Soup with Barley
• Charles Wesley (1707–1788), preacher and hymn writer, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
• John Wesley (1703–1791), preacher, theologian and diarist
• Mary Wesley (1912–2002), novelist
• Samuel Wesley (1662–1735), poet and polemicist
• Samuel Wesley (1690 or 1691–1739), poet and cleric
• Arthur Graeme West (1891–1917), diarist and poet
• Gilbert West (1703–1756), poet and translator
• Jane West (wrote as Prudentia Homespun, 1758–1852), novelist, writer and poet
• Paul West (born 1930), novelist and poet
• Rebecca West (real name Cicely Isabel Fairfield, (1892–1983), novelist, political commentator and travel writer, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
• Robert Westall (1929–1993), children's writer
• William Bury Westall (1834–1903), novelist
• Charles Molloy Westmacott (also wrote as Bernard Blackmantle, (c. 1788–1868), writer and journalist
• Joyce Wethered (1901–1997), writer, golfer and gardener
• Robert Wever (fl. 1550), poet
• Stanley J. Weyman (1855–1928), novelist
• Anne Wharton (1659–1685), poet and playwright
• George Wharton (1618–1681), pamphleteer and astrologer
• Goodwin Wharton (1653–1704), autobiographer and politician
• Gordon Wharton (born 1929), poet
• Henry Wharton (1664–1695), religious writer, biographer and cleric
• Michael Wharton (wrote as Peter Simple, 1913–2006), humorist and autobiographer
• Richard Whateley (1787–1863), theologian, economist and archbishop
• Dennis Wheatley (1897–1977), thriller writer
• Ethel Rolt Wheeler (1869–1958), poet, journalist and essayist
• Hugh Wheeler (1912–1987), novelist, playwright and screenwriter
• Mortimer Wheeler (1890–1976), archaeologist
• John Wheeler-Bennett (1902–1975), foreign policy analyst and historian
• Eric Whelpton (1894–1981), travel writer
• George Whetstone (c. 1544 – c. 1587), writer and playwright
• Charles Whibley (1859–1930), critic and writer
• Dorothy Whipple (1893–1966), novelist
• Laurence Whistler (1912–2000), poet and engraver
• Antonia White (real name Eirine Botting, 1899–1980), novelist, playwright and children's writer
• Dorothy White (c. 1630–1686), religious writer
• Gilbert White (1720–1795), naturalist and cleric, The Natural History of Selborne
• Hale White (pen name Mark Rutherford, (1831–1913), writer
• Henry Kirke White (1785–1806), poet and hymn writer
• Michael White (writes as Sam Fisher, living), writer
• T. H. White, (1906–1964), children's writer and poet, The Once and Future King
• Thomas White (also wrote as Blackloe, 1593–1676), theologian and RC priest
• Tony White (living), novelist and travel writer
• George Whitefield (1714–1770), religious writer, diarist and preacher
• Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), mathematician and philosopher
• Charles Whitehead (1804–1862), poet and novelist
• George Whitehead (1636–1723), Quaker preacher and writer
• William Whitehead (1715–1785), Poet Laureate and playwright
• Richard Whiteing (wrote as Whyte Thorne, 1840–1928), novelist and journalist
• Dorothy Whitelock (1901–1982), historian
• Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605–1675), chronicler, lawyer and politician
• Hugh Whitemore (born 1936), playwright and screenwriter
• Geoffrey Whitney (c. 1548 – c. 1601), poet
• Isabella Whitney (fl. 1567–1573), poet
• James Pounder Whitney (1857–1939), church historian
• Crispin Whittell (born 1969), playwright, Darwin in Malibu
• Ian Whybrow (born 1941), children's writer
• Thomas Whythorne (1528–1595), poet, autobiographer and composer
• Frederick Wicks (1840–1910), novelist and inventor
• Susan Wicks (born 1947), poet and novelist
• Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792–1836), poet and Spanish scholar
• Clare Wigfall (born 1976), story writer
• William Wilberforce (1759–1833), religious writer, philanthropist and social reformer
• John Wilbye (1574–1638), madrigalist
• Patrick Wilde (living), playwright and screenwriter
• Peter Wildeblood (1923–1999), writer and journalist
• John Wilkes (1725–1797), journalist and radical
• Charles Wilkins (1749–1836), orientalist, translator and typographer
• George Wilkins (fl. 1607), playwright and pamphleteer
• Harold T. Wilkins (1891–1960), writer and historian
• John Wilkins (1614–1672), natural philosopher, religious writer and bishop
• Vaughan Wilkins (1890–1959), novelist and journalist
• John Wilkinson (born 1953), poet
• John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875), writer, traveller and Egyptologist
• Geoffrey Willans (1911–1958), writer and journalist, creator (with Ronald Searle) of Nigel Molesworth
• Barbara Willard (1909–1994), children's writer and novelist
• Anna Williams (1706–1783), poet
• Bernard Williams (1929–2003), moral philosopher
• Charles Williams (1886–1945), novelist, poet and scholar
• Charlie Williams (born 1971), novelist
• Frederick Smeeton Williams (1829–1886), writer on railways
• Helen Maria Williams (1761/2–1827), poet, translator and radical
• Hugo Williams (born 1942), poet and travel writer
• Isaac Williams (1802–1865), religious writer, poet and cleric
• John Williams (1761–1818), poet, satirist and miscellanist
• John Hartley Williams (born 1942), poet
• Jules Williams writer, director and producer
• Nicholas Williams (born 1942), philologist
• Nigel Williams (born 1948), novelist, playwright and screenwriter
• Paul Williams (born 1967), writer on music and subcultures
• Paul Andrew Williams born 1973, screenwriter and film director
• Robina Williams (born c. 1970s), novelist
• Rowan Williams (born 1950), religious writer and archbishop
• Sarah Williams (1837–1868), poet
• William Mattieu Williams (1820–1892), writer on science, politics and education
• Alice Muriel Williamson (1869–1933), novelist
• Charles Norris Williamson (1859–1920), novelist and motoring writer
• Henry Williamson (1895–1977), novelist, Tarka the Otter
• Kenneth Williamson (1914–1977), ornithologist
• Timothy Williamson (born 1955), philosopher, Knowledge and Its Limits
• Browne Willis (1682–1760), writer and antiquary
• Paul Willis (living), sociologist and cultural theorist
• Robert Willis (engineer) (1800–1875), architectural writer, engineer and cleric
• Ted Willis (1914–1992), playwright and screenwriter
• Tim Willocks (living), novelist, screenwriter and psychiatrist
• Francis Willughby or Willoughby (1635–1672), ornithologist
• John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–1680), satirical poet and libertine
• A. N. Wilson (born 1950), novelist and biographer
• Andrew Wilson (born 1961), historian and writer on current affairs
• Angus Wilson (1913–1991), novelist, Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
• Bryan R. Wilson (1926–2004), sociologist of religion
• Colin Wilson (born 1931), novelist and philosopher
• Harriette Wilson (1786–1845), courtesan and memoirist
• Herbert Wrigley Wilson (1866–1940) naval historian
• Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860), orientalist and translator
• Ian Wilson (born 1941), writer on religion and science
• J. Dover Wilson (1881–1969), Shakespearean scholar and critic
• Jacqueline Wilson (born 1945), children's writer, The Story of Tracy Beaker
• John Wilson (1527–1596), playwright and translator
• Leslie Wilson (living), novelist and children's writer
• Richard Wilson (born 1950), Shakespearean scholar
• Robert Wilson (fl. 1572–1600), playwright
• Robert Wilson (born 1957), novelist
• Sandy Wilson (born 1924), lyricist and composer, The Boy Friend
• T. P. Cameron Wilson (1888–1918), poet
• Thomas Wilson (1524–1581), rhetorician and diplomat
• Thomas Wilson (1773–1858), Tyneside dialect poet
• Jane Wilson-Howarth (also writes as Jane Wilson, born 1954) travel and health writer and physician
• R. D. Wingfield (1928–2007), novelist and radio dramatist, A Touch of Frost
• Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878), translator and hymn writer
• Gerrard Winstanley (1609–1676), pamphleteer
• Stephen Winsten (real name Samuel Weinstein, 1893–1991), writer
• John Strange Winter (real name Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard 1856–1911), novelist
• Jeanette Winterson (born 1959), novelist
• Jane Wiseman (c. 1682–1717), poet and playwright
• George Wither (1588–1667), poet and satirist
• P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), novelist, playwright and lyricist, Jeeves
• John Wolcot (pen name Peter Pindar, 1738–1819), poet and satirist
• Lucien Wolf (1857–1930), historian and journalist
• Humbert Wolfe (1885–1940), poet and translator
• Ronald Wolfe (1922–2011), TV scriptwriter
• Jonathan Wolff (born 1959), political philosopher
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), polemicist, philosopher and novelist, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
• Anthony Wood (1632–1695), antiquary
• Christopher Wood (pen name Timothy Lea, born 1935), novelist and screenwriter
• David Wood (born 1944), children's playwright, screenwriter and actor
• Ellen Wood (Mrs. Henry Wood, 1814–1887), novelist, East Lynne
• Robert Wood (c. 1622–1685), mathematician and translator
• Sara Wood (living), novelist and story writer
• Thomas Wood (1892–1950), writer and composer
• James Woodforde (1740–1803), diarist and cleric
• Walter Bradford Woodgate (pen name Wat Bradwood, 1841–1920), writer and barrister
• Cecil Woodham-Smith (1896–1977), historian and biographer, The Great Hunger
• Martin Woodhouse (born 1932), novelist and screenwriter
• Richard Woodman (born 1944), novelist and mariner
• Charles Woodmason (c. 1720–1789), diarist, poet and cleric
• Margaret Louisa Woods (1856–1945), novelist and poet
• Anthony Woodville or Wydeville, Earl Rivers (c. 1440–1483) translator and magnate
• Gerard Woodward (born 1961), novelist and poet
• John Woodward (1665–1728), naturalist and antiquarian
• Emily Woof (born 1967), playwright, screenwriter and actress
• Leonard Woolf (1880–1969), writer, editor and publisher
• Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), author, biographer and diarist, To the Lighthouse
• Thomas Woolner (1825–1892) poet and sculptor
• Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885), poet, classicist and bishop
• Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), diarist and poet,
• William Wordsworth (1770–1850), poet, The Prelude
• T. C. Worsley (1907–1977), writer and critic
• Henry Wotton (1568–1639), poet and translator
• Nathaniel Wraxall (1751–1831), memoirist and political writer
• P. C. Wren (1875–1941), novelist, Beau Geste
• Crispin Wright (born 1942), philosopher
• David Wright (1920–1994), poet, translator and biographer
• Derrick Wright (born 1928), military historian
• Edward Wright (1561–1615), mathematician and writer on navigation
• Fred Wright (born 1947), historian and theologian
• Joseph Wright (1855–1930), philologist and lexicographer, English Dialect Dictionary
• Kit Wright (born 1944), poet, children's writer and anthologist
• N. T. Wright (also wrote as Tom Wright, born 1948), religious writer and bishop
• Patrick Wright (living), cultural historian and broadcaster
• Richard Wright (Unitarian) (1764–1836), religious writer and Unitarian minister
• Thomas Wright (1810–1877), writer and antiquary
• William Aldis Wright (1831–1914), writer and editor
• Mary Wroth (1587–1651/3), writer and poet
• Andrea Wulf (born 1972), biographer, garden writer and science writerChasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens
• Arthur Wyatt (living), writer for comics and editor
• George Wyatt (1550–1623), writer and biographer
• Stephen Wyatt (born 1948), playwright, radio dramatist and adapter
• Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), poet and translator
• Woodrow Wyatt (1918–1997), journalist, diarist and politician
• William Wycherley (c. 1640–1715), playwright
• Robert Wydow (c. 1446–1505), poet, musician and cleric
• John Wycliffe (mid-1320s – 1384), theologian and translator
• William Wycherley (1640–1715), playwright, The Country Wife
• John Wyndham (also wrote as John Beynon, 1903–1969), novelist, The Day of the Triffids
• D. B. Wyndham-Lewis (wrote as Timothy Shy, 1891–1969), humorist
• Peter Wynne-Thomas (born 1934), cricket writer and historian