10 Famous writers who were teachers first

Monday October 5th was World Teacher's Day, a UNESCO-supported holiday that honors the critical role teachers play in maintaining education systems across the globe.

World Teachers' Day falls on Oct. 5 annually and it celebrates educators around the world while highlighting changes that need to be made for universal education goals.

In this vein, here are some famous writers who not only taught us about the importance of learning via their works of literature, but also through their careers as teachers, instructors and high school professors.

1. Robert Frost

Robert Frost, the poet who wrote the popular poem "The Road Not Taken" that we all read in secondary school was a teacher. Though he ended up as an English professor, he once taught a secondary school in New Hampshire. In terms of his teaching style, Virginia Public Radio quoted him saying, "I don't teach. I don't know how. I talk and I have the boys talk."

2. Wole Soyinka

During the regime of General Sani Abacha, Soyinka escaped from Nigeria via the "NADECO Route" on a motorcycle. Living abroad, mainly in the United States, he was a professor first at Cornell University and then at Emory University in Atlanta, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts.

When he came back to Nigeria, he was a Professor of Comparative Literature at the Obafemi Awolowo University. Then in 2007, he was appointed Professor in Residence at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, USA.

And on learning he said: "And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others."

3. J.K. Rowling

The sorceress who brought beloved characters such as Professor Snape and McGonagall to life was once an instructor herself, though briefly. J.K. Rowling taught English as a Second Language in Portugal, and began writing the Harry Potter series during her stint.

4. Chinua Achebe

His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature. While he meditated on his possible career paths, Achebe was visited by a friend from the university, who convinced him to apply for an English teaching position at the Merchants of Light school at Oba.

From 2009 until his death, he served as David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in the United States.

As a teacher he urged his students to read extensively and be original in their work

5. Joanne Harris

You know her as the author of the book-turned-film Chocolat, most likely. But she's done more than write quixotic love stories -- Joanne Harris has penned horror stories and cookbooks, and, before all that, she was a teacher for 15 years.

6. Dan Brown

Dan Brown, believe it or not, wasn't born writing cerebral thrillers that translate fluidly into fast-paced action movies. His dad was a math teacher and textbook writer, and when he was young, Brown traveled down this inherited career path by focusing on education. He taught English and Spanish in his hometown.

7. William Golding

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, perhaps the most nihilistic chronicle of human nature, was also an instructor of both English and philosophy.

8. Stephen King

Two years before he was able to sell his first novel, Carrie, Stephen King worked as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Maine. As legend has it, he was grading papers in the teacher's lounge when his wife called him at school -- a rare occurrence considering the couple didn't own a phone -- to tell him his book would be published.

9. Maya Angelou

Angelou is best known for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, (1969) this book brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Despite having no bachelor's degree, she was awarded the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she was one of only a few full-time professors. F

From that point on, she considered herself "a teacher who writes". Angelou taught a variety of subjects that reflected her interests, including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and writing. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that even though she made many friends on campus, "she never quite lived down all of the criticism from people who thought she was more of a celebrity than an intellect...[and] an overpaid figurehead".

10. George Orwell

Before writing such high school reading list classics as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, George Orwell taught at a tiny boys’ school himself.

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