New Orleans Writers List

These aren't all of them, (we have to save something for our grand opening!) but here's a partial of writers that lived in New Orleans, and have gone on to that great library in the sky:

Nelson Algren (1909-1981) wrote Walk on the Wild Side in 1956 portraying 1930s Bohemian life

Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002) historian and author, founded D-Day Museum

Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) novelist who was a mentor to Faulkner and Hemingway

Stanley Clisby Arthur (1880-1963) a dir. of the La. State Museum, wrote a biography of Audubon

John James Audubon (1785-1851) naturalist, documented bird species in N. America

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) poet, wrote Crucifix in a Deathband here; movie Barfly based on him

William Seward Burroughs (1914-1997); Beat Generation writer, lived in Algiers in late 1940s

George Washington Cable – (1844-1925); b. New Orleans, widely known for works on Creole life

Truman Capote (1924-1984); b. New Orleans, Southern Gothic novelist, journalist

Kate Chopin (1850-1904); m. 1870 to Oscar Chopin of New Orleans; wrote The Awakening, 1899

Marcus Bruce Christian (1900-1976) poet, reporter; wrote The Negro Ironworkers of LA

Winston Churchill (1871-1947) NOT Brit. statesman; historical novelist wrote The Great Crisis, others

J. F. H. Claiborne (1807-1884); edited Jeffersonian 1844-46, Statesman 1849-51, Louisiana Courier 1850-53

Tom Dent (1932-98), poet, essayist, activist, edited The Black River Journal

William Faulkner (1897-1962), won Nobel Prize, wrote Soldiers Pay in New Orleans, 1926

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) w/ help of Sherwood Anderson, rented 2900 Prytania, in 1920

Charles Gayarré (1805-1895) lived at 601 Bourbon; Creole intellectual; Grace King’s mentor

John Howard Griffin (1920-1978) began Black Like Me at Monteleone; stayed in slave quarters on St. Ann Street

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904); first noted for Fantastics, published in The Picayune

Lillian Hellman (1905-1984; playwright born in New Orleans; wrote Toys in the Attic

O. Henry (1862-1910); fleeing Texas embezzlement charges, William Sidney Porter became O. Henry here

Harnett Kane (1910-1984) newspaperman & historian; best known for Louisiana Hayride

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) visited Burroughs here at 509 Wagner St., recounted in On the Road

Francis Parkinson Keyes (1885-1970); wrote, Dinner at Antoines, 1948

Grace King (1852-1932); born in New Orleans; published Monsieur Motte 1888

Oliver La Farge (1901-1963) came here in 1925, lived at 714 St. Peter; wrote Laughing Boy; won Pulitzer 1930

Everett Maddox (1945-1989) poet; founded Sunday readings at the Mapleleaf bar, Uptown, 1980s

Joaquin Miller (1837-1913) came here 1884 to write about the Centennial Exposition; stayed w/ G.W. Cable

Seth Morgan (1949-1990), author of Homeboy; crashed motorcycle and died on Danziger bridge

Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) b. New Orleans; wrote poetry, fiction, drama and journalism

Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) famous playwright took drunken rail journey here, rehearsed first play as an actor

John Dos Passos (1896-1970) novelist, lived at 510 Esplanade in 1924, finished Manhattan Transfer

Walker Percy (1916-90), lived at 1450 Calhoun; also began The Moviegoer at 1820 Milan St.; 1957-1959

Baron von Reizenstein (1826-1885); lived here 1851-1885; wrote The Mysteries of New Orleans

Stan Rice (1942-2002); noted poet & artist (husband of Anne Rice); received Poe Award 1977

Adrien and Domique Roquette (1813-87) & (1810-90) lived at 413 Royal St.; both were poets

Lyle Saxon (1891-1946) editor, journalist & historian; John Steinbeck was married at his home

Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1957) adventurer of “Dr. Livingstone” fame, New Orleans was boyhood home

Robert Tallant (1909-1957), b. & lived in New Orleans; reporter, editor (WPA project) under Saxon; novelist

John Kennedy Toole (1937-69); lived at 390 Audubon St.; Confederacy of Dunces, won Pulitzer posthumously

Mark Twain (1835-1910); 1855 became a river pilot in New Orleans; took Mark Twain name here

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) first U. S. Poet Laureate; won Pulitzer for All the King’s Men, 1946 (LSU)

Eudora Welty (1909-2001); MS author & sometime photographer, frequent visitor to New Orleans

Walt Whitman (1819-1892); editor of the New Orleans Crescent 1848; & developed his poetry here

Tennessee Williams (1911-83), noted playwright wrote, Streetcar Named Desire, at 632 St. Peter in 1940s