Alabama Authors
The South has produced some of the greatest writing. Our Georgia authors include greats like Terry Kay, South Carolina is proud of Pat Conroy, and Thomas Wolfe of North Carolina recreated writing. Below are a few of the great Alabama writers that have helped to define Southern writing.
Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880-June 1, 1968)
Though born both deaf and blind, Helen Keller, thanks to the work of her mentor and teacher Annie Sullivan, learned to communicate with others. She  was an author, a political activist and lecturer. She is known worldwide due to the play and film, The Miracle Worker.
Miss Keller wrote a total of 12 books as well as several published articles ranging from fiction to autobiographical works. Some of her writings include: The Frost King, The Story of My Life
and Light in My Darkness which expresses and advocated the spiritual teachings by Emanuel Swedenborg.
Winston Groom (born March 23, 1944)
Perhaps best known for his novel, Forest Gump
, Groom is a prolific Alabama author whose stories often revolve around military experiences. He began writing in the 1970s but it was not until the movie based on his story, Forrest Gump that he became well known. He has also written several nonfiction works on history as well as sports. Some of his writings include:
- Better Times Than These
- As Summers Die
- Conversations with the Enemy
- Gone the Sun
- Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War
- 1942: The Year that Tried Men’s Souls
- Vicksburg, 1863
- The Crimson Tide: The Official illustrated History of Alabama, National Championship Edition (2010)
Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926)
 Although she is Alabama’s most famous author, Nelle Harper, is actually somewhat of a recluse dividing her time between Monroeville, AL and New York. Her father was a trial lawyer who later became the editor for the Monroe Journal. Lee’s famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird
is actually based on the Scottsboro Boys trial.
Lee attended Huntington College, where she wrote for several student publications and started collaborating with her childhood friend and author, Truman Compote. To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and has never gone out of print, and is second only to the Bible in being one of the most influential books ever read. Harper Lee’s famed book allowed her to retire to solitude as she preferred.
Truman Capote (September 24, 1924 to Aug. 25, 1984)
As perhaps one of the South’s most well-known authors, Capote was not only a novelist, but a journalist and well recognized public figure. He began writing for school newspapers and major publications such as The New Yorker while still high school. Much of his writing focused on the people and experiences he had while living in Alabama, though he also wrote about his travels, and did interviews for the papers. Some of his most well known writings are Other Voices, Other Rooms which talks about his youth; Breakfast at Tiffany's
which later was made into the movie starring Audrey Hepburn; In Cold Blood; Music for Chameleon; A Tree of Night; The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places and works of short stories entitled, A Christmas Memory and The Thanksgiving Visitor.
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