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Writing Lessons & Advice: Writers Across the U.S.

  • Writer: Katie Johns
    Katie Johns
  • 8 minutes ago
  • 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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