Richard Dawkins is prominent Atheist. He has written many books, including The Selfish Gene, and The God Delusion. Having read both, I believe he is quite a good author.
"I trust my own reason and my own capacities to think and educate myself and to reach greater levels of knowlege and status through learning and work. To me, wishing for a god is like wishing to be a slave, it is like declaring that one is too incompetent to handle one's own affairs." - the germans are coming