Alabama has a rich literary heritage and can boast of extraordinary literary activity and achievement in the present, including such genres as travel and nature writing, autobiography, and humor, as well as poetry, drama, and fiction.
From the entry on Alabama Literature in the Encyclopedia of Alabama database on AVL; accessed April 26, 2012.
The following are links to websites that feature the work of Alabama authors past and present, including lists of books currently in print as well as festivals that feature the work of Alabama writers.
JOE DAVID BROWN
Joe David Brown (May 12, 1915 – April 22, 1976) was an American novelist and journalist from Birmingham, Alabama. He drew memorably from his own life to compose his fiction: his grandfather's role as a minister, his own knowledge of confidence games from his work as a reporter, his World War II experiences, and his residence on journalistic assignment in India. He is particularly remembered for the title character of his novel Addie Pray, the young "Mistress of the Con Game" during the Great Depression in the Deep South; an adaptation of the story later became the film Paper Moon.
H.E. FRANCIS
Rhode Island native H.E. Francis (1924-2024) spent almost six decades living in Huntsville, except for frequent visits to Spain, Argentina and elsewhere. From 1966 until his retirement in 1988, he was a Professor of English and Fiction Writing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Francis was primarily a writer of short stories, set in a variety of locations around the globe.
JAMES HASKINS
James/Jim Haskins (1941 – 2005) was an American author; he wrote more than 100 books for both adults and children. Many of his books are about the achievements of African Americans; they cover the history and culture of Africa and the African American experience. The biographical subjects include Lena Horne, Hank Aaron, Scatman Crothers, and Malcolm X. Most of his writings were for young people. He wrote on a great variety of subjects which introduced them to the language and cultures of other continents, especially Africa.
Haskins' picture books, with many brightly colored pictures and few words, were geared to young children just learning to read. They are about the achievements of African Americans in society. The characters in the stories cover the gamut of African American role models, from Rosa Parks to the black members of the Hannibal Guards, a military organization in Pittsburgh during the Civil War.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Haskins; accessed May 30, 2024.
Birmingham native Fannie Flagg (1944-) first made an impression on the public through television as a broadcaster, comedienne and actress. Later, she devoted time and effort into her writing, culminating in her most popular novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1988), which was also adapted into a popular film. In general, her fiction focuses on strong bonds between female characters who question racial and gender inequities.
For more information, visit the following link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2462.
Long-time Mobilian Winston Groom (1944-2020) is best known for his novel Forrest Gump, a work in the tradition of southern fiction that became a cultural phenomenon after it was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film of the same name. A number of Groom’s novels draw on his experiences in Vietnam, and in his later years, he turned to writing historical nonfiction.
For more information, follow this link: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/winston-groom/; accessed 6/11/23.
ROBERT R. McCAMMON
Birmingham native Robert Rick McCammon (1952- ) is an award-winning and bestselling author whose body of work spans the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction. In 1992, his novel, Boy's Life, won the prestigious World Fantasy Award for best novel. In addition to writing novels and short fiction, McCammon founded the Horror Writers Association, a nonprofit organization of professional writers in the horror genre.
For more information, follow this link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2533.
Born in Monroeville, Mark Childress (1957-) had the advantage via literary birthright of the same climate that spawned Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Although he spent much time in other locations including Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi and Louisiana, he still writes extensively about Alabama. His novels with Alabama settings include A World Made of Fire (1984) and Crazy in Alabama (1993).
For more information, visit this link:http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3384
DANIEL WALLACE
Daniel Wallace (1959- ) is an author who is best known for his novel Big Fish (1998), a national bestseller that was developed into a major motion picture directed by Tim Burton. In addition to his four novels, Wallace has written and illustrated a children's book, Elynora, and has published more than three dozen short stories in publications such as The Massachusetts Review, The Yale Review, Shenandoah, New Stories from the South, and The Best American Short Stories. His illustrations and drawings have appeared in the L.A. Times and Italian Vanity Fair.
For more information, visit this link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3418.
Rick Bragg (1959-) grew up in the Jacksonville area and later became a reporter for The New York Times. He has published seven non-fiction books to date. His most famous is his first, All Over But the Shoutin’ (1997), which focuses on Bragg’s early life, including his struggles with his abusive alcoholic father and the mother that was left to raise Bragg and his two brothers on her own.
For more information, visit the link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1881.
Angela Johnson (1961-) was born in Tuskegee but grew up in Windham, Ohio. Despite leaving Alabama, she has used the state as the setting for many of her books and poetry, which concern the everyday lives and struggles of young African Americans. Her works are primarily aimed at a young audience, from pre-teen to young adult. She has received many awards and is a three-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award for her young adult novels Toning the Sweep, Heaven, and The First Part Last. She has been honored with the Alabama Author Award, first in 1993 for her picture book When I Am Old With You and again in 2005 for The First Part Last.
For more information, visit the following link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2516.
