Writing Lessons & Advice: Writers Across the U.S.
- Katie Johns
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
Most know that the United States celebrates a day of national pride on July fourth. Something that most may not know is that thirteen of the fifty states (as of this writing) express their regional pride by celebrating the days they were admitted to the union. For those curious, those states are West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Ohio.
Much like school pride or social pride, statehood days celebrate a state's history, identity, and contributions to society. Regardless of if, how, or when a state pays homage to its heritage, every state has been home to some significant writers who are noted below. This chart isn't meant to be an exhaustive list of every writer who came from and/or worked in that state, but instead just key classic or contemporary names. Entries are limited between one and three names for the sake of brevity and chart symmetry.
AL- Harper Lee, Walker Percy, Rodney Jones | AK- Sydney Huntington, Velma Wallis | AZ- Stephanie Myer, Jeannette Walls | AR- John Grisham, C. D. Wright, John Gould Fletcher | CA-Joan Didon, John Steinbeck, Robert Frost* | CO- Ken Kesey | CT-Suzanne Collins, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Hayden Carruth | DE- Colleen Faulkner, John Phillips Marquand, Rebecca Lee Crumpler | FL- Zora Neale Hurston, Carl Hiaasen, Donald Justice | GA- Alice Walker, Margaret Mitchell; D. A. Powell |
HI- Milton Murayama, Kaui Hart Hemmings | ID- Vardis Fisher, Marilynne Robinson | IL-Sandra Cisneros, Ernest Hemingway | IN- Kurt Vonnegut | IA- Bill Bryson, Ted Kooser | KS- William Inge, Gwendolyn Brooks, Keith Waldrop | KY- Marsha Norman, Robert Penn Warren, Hunter S. Thompson | LA- Anne Rice, Rebecca Wells | ME- Stephen King | MD- Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy, Upton Sinclair |
MA- Nathaniel Hawthorne, W.E.B. Du Bois, Edgar Allan Poe | MI- Terry McMillan, Jeffrey Eugenides | MN- F. Scott Fitzgerald | MS- Richard Wright, William Faulkner | MO- Maya Angelou, Mark Twain | MT-Maile Meloy | NE- Nicholas Sparks, Wright Morris | NV- Nevada Barr, Charles Bock | NH- Dan Brown, Robert Frost*, Jane Smiley | NJ- George R R Martin, William Carlos Williams |
NM- Rudolfo Anaya | NY-James Baldwin, J.D. Salinger, Edith Wharton | NC- Thomas Wolfe, Judy Jordan, Ben Fountain | ND- Louis L'Amour, Louise Erdrich | OH- Toni Morrison, Anthony Doerr | OK- Ralph Ellison, John Berryman, N. Scott Momaday | OR- Beverly Cleary, Phyllis McGinley | PA- Omar Tyree, John Updike | RI- Cormac McCarthy, Edith Pearlman | SC- Peggy Parish, Julia Peterkin, Terrance Hayes |
SD- J. A. Jance, Adam Johnson | TN- Eric Jerome Dickey, Terrance Hayes, Charles Wright | TX- Larry McMurtry, Katherine Anne Porter | UT- Shannon Hale, Orson Scott Card | VT- Ralph Nading Hill, Rudyard Kipling | VA- V.C. Andrews, William Styron, Willa Cather | WA- Kristin Hannah, Debbie Macomber | WV- Cynthia Rylant, Homer Hickam, Pearl S. Buck | WI- Laura Ingalls Wilder | WY-Patricia Maclachlan |
*Robert Frost resided and earned Pulitzer Prizes between at least two states |
Each of the fifty nifty United States embraces their unique attributes on a statewide or nationwide scale at the choosing of their people and/or leadership. As mentioned, a few have statehood days while others have more localized recognitions. More still, each state symbolizes themselves through a variety of plants, animals, songs, mottos, and more. With written word as another enduring hallmark of culture, each state also has borne plenty of talented voices! I hope you're encouraged and inspired to seek out these voices (if not others) and find ways to contribute yours!
Which writers are from your state? Are your favorites on the list? If not, where are they from? Feel free to mention them or any other topics you want me to cover in the chat feature or socials!
Sources/further reading
Statehood days lists and commentary
resource for state symbols: https://statesymbolsusa.org/
Author/state lists
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