Certain authors’ voices can be recognized in a single sentence. Novelists like Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, and Joseph Conrad each have a defined narrative voice that leaps off the page—an experienced reader wouldn’t confuse Morrison for Hemingway, or any other famous author for that matter. Many poets also have clearly pronounced literary voices—from Ezra Pound to Billy Collins to even the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. Part of the timeless appeal of many famous novelists is their clearly defined literary voice.
