Authors are the most likely people to feature on banknotes

22 April 2022

It seems ironic that while they may not earn a great deal of money, authors are the most likely people to feature on banknotes, ahead of even political leaders.

Some notable figures in this category include Colombia’s first Nobel Prize of Literature winner Gabriel García Márquez, the pioneer of Japanese modern literature Ichiyo Higuchi and Turkish writer Fatma Aliye Topuz, who is known as the first female author in the Islamic world. Writers can give voice to a place, time, and culture in a way that can resonate and instill a sense of shared identity among citizens, perhaps making them such a popular choice to feature on banknotes.