Open Library Authors

How to Use This API

1. Get Author Profile

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A.json

Returns name, personal name, birth/death dates, bio, Wikipedia link, website, and photo IDs.

2. Get Author Works (Bibliography)

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A/works.json?limit=5

Returns a paginated list of the author's works sorted by publication date. Supports limit and offset parameters.

3. Search for an Author ID by Name

https://openlibrary.org/search.json?author=tolkien

Use the search API to find the author key (author_key field in results), then use that key with the authors endpoint.

4. Get Author with Their Photo

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL34184A.json

Author photos are returned as numeric IDs in the photos array. Use https://covers.openlibrary.org/a/id/{ID}-L.jpg for the photo URL.

5. Response Format

{
  "key": "/authors/OL23919A",
  "name": "Isaac Asimov",
  "birth_date": "2 January 1920",
  "death_date": "6 April 1992",
  "bio": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born..."},
  "personal_name": "Isaac Asimov",
  "website": "http://www.asimovonline.com",
  "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov",
  "photos": [12345, 67890],
  "works": [{"key": "/works/OL1W", "title": "Foundation"}]
}

6. JavaScript — Author Info

fetch('https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23919A.json')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(a => {
    console.log(`Name: ${a.name}`);
    console.log(`Born: ${a.birth_date || 'Unknown'} — Died: ${a.death_date || 'Present'}`);
    console.log(`Bio: ${a.bio?.value || a.bio || 'No biography available'}`);
    if (a.wikipedia) console.log(`Wikipedia: ${a.wikipedia}`);
  });

7. Python — Author Bibliography

import requests

author_key = 'OL23919A'
resp = requests.get(f'https://openlibrary.org/authors/{author_key}.json')
author = resp.json()
print(f"Author: {author['name']}")

resp = requests.get(
    f'https://openlibrary.org/authors/{author_key}/works.json',
    params={'limit': 10}
)
for work in resp.json()['entries']:
    year = work.get('first_publish_year', 'N/A')
    title = work['title']
    print(f"  \u2022 {title} ({year})")

8. Python — Full Author Search + Profile

import requests

# Step 1: Search for the author
search = requests.get(
    'https://openlibrary.org/search.json',
    params={'author': 'ursula k le guin', 'limit': 1}
).json()
author_key = search['docs'][0]['author_key'][0]
print(f"Found author key: {author_key}")

# Step 2: Get full profile
profile = requests.get(
    f'https://openlibrary.org/authors/{author_key}.json'
).json()
print(f"Name: {profile['name']}")
print(f"Born: {profile.get('birth_date', 'N/A')}")