Story is at the heart of any great writing, fiction or nonfiction, but writers from the South seem to have an instinctive understanding of how important stories are to our daily lives. It is through stories that we remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us. Stories are also how we come to understand where we are going. Through our stories we also pass down the customs and traditions that are central to our lives. Here are some writers who are superb storytellers, and for whose characters the past and the future are intricately tied together through their stories.
- Wendell Berry — Fidelity: Five Stories
- Olive Ann Burns — Cold Sassy Tree
- Willa Cather — Sapphira and the Slave Girl
- Fred Chappell — Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You
- William Faulkner — Light in August
- Ernest Gaines — A Lesson Before Dying
- Ellen Glasgow — Vein of Iron
- Silas House – Clay’s Quilt
- Zora Neale Hurston — Their Eyes Were Watching God
- Flannery O’Connor — The Complete Stories
- Walker Percy — The Moviegoer
- Reynolds Price — Kate Vaiden
- Lee Smith — On Agate Hill
- Peter Taylor — A Summons to Memphis
- Eudora Welty — Delta Wedding
More favorites? Add them in the comments.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.
Flagg is a great example, Ann. Thanks!
To Kill a Mockingbird!!
This is another classic, Cindy. Thanks.
[…] For more Southern authors and the stories they tell, be sure to see our list of Great Southern Fiction […]