This is a list of San Francisco Bay Area writers, notable writers who have lived in, or written about, the San Francisco Bay Area.
A
- Chester Aaron (May 9, 1923 – August 30, 2019) An American Ghost [1]
- Scott Adams (June 8, 1957 – ) Dilbert [2]
- Kim Addonizio (July 31, 1954 – ) My Dreams Out in the Street
- Laura Albert (November 2, 1965 – ) The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
- David M. Alexander (1945 – ) My Real Name Is Lisa
- Isabel Allende (August 2, 1942 – ) The House of the Spirits
- Dorothy Allison (April 11, 1949 – ) Bastard out of Carolina [1]
- Charlie Jane Anders, Six Months, Three Days
- Brent Anderson (June 15, 1955 – ) Astro City series [1]
- Robert Mailer Anderson, Boonville, The Adventures of Teddy Ballgame, Windows on the World
- Sarah Andrews, An Eye For Gold [1]
- Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Tamim Ansary (November 4, 1948 – ) West of Kabul, East of New York
B
- Natalie Baszile, Queen Sugar
- Peter S. Beagle (April 20, 1939 – ) The Last Unicorn
- John Bear (1938 – ) Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning
- Dodie Bellamy, Pink Steam
- Hester A. Benedict (1838-1921), president, Pacific Coast Women's Press Association
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
- Terry Bisson (February 12, 1942 - January 10, 2024) " They're Made Out of Meat"
- Vance Bourjaily (September 17, 1922 – August 31, 2010) Brill Among the Ruins
- Steven R. Boyett, Elegy Beach
- Kate Braverman (February 5, 1949 – October 12, 2019) "Squandering the Blue"
- Gray Brechin (September 2, 1947 – ) "Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin"
- Genea Brice Poet laureate of Vallejo, California
- Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926) How Plants are Trained to Work for Man
C
- Patrick Califia (1954 – ) Speaking Sex to Power
- Ethan Canin (July 19, 1960 – ) For Kings and Planets
- Gail Carriger (May 4, 1976 – ) Soulless
- Michael Chabon (May 24, 1963 – ) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
- Meg Waite Clayton (January 1, 1959 – ) The Last Train to London, The Race for Paris, The Wednesday Sisters
- Andy Couturier (June 3, 1964 – ) The Abundance of Less
- Belo Cipriani (June 21, 1980 – ) Blind: A Memoir
- Ann Weiser Cornell (1949 – ) The Power of Focusing
D
- Avram Davidson (April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993) The Scarlet Fig
- Kyra Davis, Sex, Murder and a Double Latte
- Tiffanie DeBartolo (November 27, 1970 – ) How To Kill a Rock Star, Dream for an Insomniac
- Alonzo Delano (July 2, 1806 – September 8, 1874) On the Trail to the California Gold Rush
- Diane di Prima (August 6, 1934 – October 25, 2020) Loba
- N. A. Diaman (November 1, 1936 – November 8, 2020) Castro Street Memories
- Philip K. Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Greg Downs (November 22, 1971 – ) Spit Baths
- Richard Dry (September 4, 1967 -- ) Leaving
- Howard Dully (November 30, 1948 – ) My Lobotomy
- Robert Duncan (January 7, 1919 – February 3, 1988) The Opening of the Field, Bending the Bow
James Dalessandro, author/screenwriter of "1906:A Novel", "Bohemian Heart", and "Citizen Jane."
E
- Dossie Easton (February 26, 1944 – ) The Ethical Slut
- Dave Eggers (March 12, 1970 – ) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity
- Duane Elgin (1943 – ) Voluntary Simplicity
- Stephen Elliott (December 3, 1971 – ) Happy Baby
F
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) A Coney Island of the Mind
- Timothy Ferris (August 29, 1944 – ) The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report
- Karen Joy Fowler (February 7, 1950 – ) The Jane Austen Book Club
- Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
- Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) " Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
G
- Michelle Gagnon (July 4, 1971 – ) Don't Turn Around
- Cristina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban; The Aguero Sisters; King of Cuba
- Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) Perry Mason novels
- Eric Garris (December 1953 – )
- Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) " Howl"
- Robert Gluck (February 2, 1947 –) Jack the Modernist, Margery Kempe
- Herbert Gold (March 9, 1924 – November 19, 2023) Birth of a Hero
- Lisa Goldstein (November 21, 1953 – ) The Red Magician
- Daphne Gottlieb (1968 – ) Final Girl
- Judy Grahn (July 28, 1940 – ) A Woman is Talking to Death
- Andrew Sean Greer (November 21, 1970 – ) Less
- Susan Griffin (January 26, 1943) Woman and Nature: the Roaring Inside Her
H
- Katie Hafner (1957 –) A Romance on Three Legs
- Dashiell Hammett (1894 – 1961)
- Daniel Handler (February 28, 1970 – ) A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Jean Hegland (1956 – ) Into the Forest [3]
- John L. Hennessy (1953 – ) Computer Organization and Design
- Dorothy J. Heydt A Point of Honor
- Jack Hirschman (1933 – 2021)
- Jane Hirshfield (February 24, 1953 –) The Ink Dark Moon
- Adam Hochschild (1942 – ) King Leopold's Ghost
- Khaled Hosseini (March 4, 1965 – ) The Kite Runner
- Daedalus Howell (July 19, 1972 – ) The Late Projectionist
J
- Shirley Jackson (1916 – 1965)
K
- Richard Kadrey (1957 – ) From Myst to Riven
- Alan Kaufman, Jew Boy
- Jack Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969) On the Road
- Laleh Khadivi, The Walking; The Age of Orphans
- Derek Kirk Kim (1974 – ) Same Difference and Other Stories
- Carla King (1958 – ) American Borders, Stories from Elsewhere
- Laurie R. King (September 19, 1952 – ) The Beekeeper's Apprentice
- Maxine Hong Kingston (October 27, 1940 – ) The Woman Warrior
- Ellen Klages (1954 – ) "Basement Magic"
L
- Howard Lachtman (July 8, 1941 — ), American academic, literary critic, editor and author
- Anne Lamott (April 10, 1954 – ) Hard Laughter
- D.L. Lang Poet laureate of Vallejo, California
- Michael Lederer (July 9, 1956 – ) Cadaqués
- Ursula K. Le Guin (October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) The Dispossessed
- Gus Lee (1946 – )
- Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. (1910 – 1992)
- Daniel Levitin (1957 – ) This Is Your Brain On Music, The Organized Mind
- Michael Lewis (October 15, 1960 – ) Liar's Poker
- Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) " To Build a Fire"
- Ki Longfellow (December 9, 1944 – ) " The Secret Magdalene"
M
- Nick Mamatas (February 20, 1972 – ) Move Under Ground
- Micheline Aharonian Marcom (1968 – ) Three Apples Fell from Heaven
- Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
- Armistead Maupin (May 13, 1944 – ) Tales of the City
- Terry McMillan (October 18, 1951 –) Waiting to Exhale
- Cathleen Miller (February 13, 1956 –) Champion of Choice
- Joaquin Miller (September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913) "Columbus"
- Christopher Moore (author) (January 1, 1957 – ) Bloodsucking Fiends
- John Muir (1838 – 1914)
N
- Annalee Newitz (1969 – ) White Trash: Race and Class in America
- Janis Cooke Newman (1955 – ) Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln
- Wendy Newman (1967 – ) 121 First Dates: How to Succeed at Online Dating, Fall in Love, and Live Happily Ever After (Really!)
- Bich (Beth) Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddha's Dinner; Short Girls; Pioneer Girl
- Katia Noyes, Crashing America
O
- Carol Anne O'Marie (1933 – 2009)
- Tommy Orange (January 19, 1982 –) There There
P
- Charlotte Painter (1926 – ) The Fortunes of Laurie Breaux
- Stephan Pastis (January 16, 1968 – ) Pearls Before Swine
- Diana Paxson (February 20, 1943 – ) Mistress of the Jewels
- Howard Pease (September 6, 1894 – April 14, 1974) The Tod Moran Mysteries
- Aimee Phan, We Should Never Meet; The Reeducation of Cherry Truong
- Michael Pollan (February 6, 1955 – ) The Omnivore's Dilemma
- Tim Pratt (December 12, 1976 – ) The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl
Q
- Carol Queen (1958 – ) Real Live Nude Girl
- Lisa Quinn, $500 Room Makeovers
R
- Justin Raimondo (November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019) Reclaiming the American Right
- Ruth Reichl (January 16, 1948 – ) Tender at the Bone
- Mark Rein-Hagen, Vampire: The Masquerade
- Kathryn Reiss (December 4, 1957 – ) Time Windows
- Barbara Jane Reyes (1971 – ) Poeta en San Francisco
- Rudy Rucker (March 22, 1946 – ) Software
S
- William Saroyan (1908 – 1981)
- Kate Schatz (September 19, 1978 – ) Rad American Women A-Z
- Ariel Schrag (December 29, 1979 – ) Awkward
- Charles M. Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) Peanuts
- Kemble Scott (1962 – ) SoMa
- Mary Ann Shaffer (December 13, 1934 – February 16, 2008) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
- Dave Smeds (1955 – ) The Sorcery Within
- Jane Smiley (September 26, 1949 – ) A Thousand Acres
- Jeremy Adam Smith, The Daddy Shift
- Gary Snyder (1930 – )
- Jeremy Snyder Poet laureate of Vallejo, California
- Rebecca Solnit (1961 – ) River of Shadows
- Starhawk (June 17, 1951 – ) The Spiral Dance
- Joseph Staten, Halo: Contact Harvest
- Danielle Steel (August 14, 1947 – )
- Melissa Stein, Rough Honey, Terrible Blooms
- George Sterling (1869 – 1926)
- George R. Stewart (May 31, 1895 – August 22, 1980) Pickett's Charge
- Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (born 1968) The Greenhouse
- Emelie Tracy Y. Swett (1863 – 1892) Californian Illustrated Magazine
- Rachel Swirsky (April 14, 1982 – ) "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window"
- Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, That's Revolting!
T
- Amy Tan (February 19, 1952 – ) The Joy Luck Club
- Michelle Tea (1971 – ) Rose of No Man's Land
- Daniel Terdiman (May 31, 1974 – ) The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life
- Walter Tevis (1928 – 1994)
- Robert Alfred Theobald (1884 – 1957) The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor
- Adrian Tomine, Optic Nerve
- Gail Tsukiyama, The Samurai's Garden
- Mark Twain (1835 – April 21, 1910) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
V
- Abraham Verghese (1955 – ) My Own Country
W
- Ayelet Waldman (December 11, 1964 – ) Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
- Alice Walker (February 9, 1944 – ) The Color Purple
- Vivian Walsh, Olive, the Other Reindeer
- Alice Waters (April 28, 1944 – ) The Art of Simple Food
- Jacob Weisman (February 23, 1965 – ) Death and the Elephant
- Herman Whitaker (1867 – 1919) The Mystery of the Barranca
- Sean Wilsey (1970 – ) Oh the Glory of It All
- Yvor Winters [4] (October 17, 1900 – January 25, 1968) "The Testament of a Stone"
- Emma Wolf (1865 – 1932) A Prodigal in Love
- Naomi Wolf (1962 – )
- Tobias Wolff (June 19, 1945 – ) This Boy's Life
- Russ Woody, The Wheel of Nuldoid
Y
- Laurence Yep (1948 – )
Z
- Daisy Zamora (June 20, 1950 – ) En limpio se escribe la vida
- Helen Zia (1952 – )
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Community :: A Sonoma County Library project". Sonoma County Library. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ Pelletier, Janet (December 14, 2007). "'Dilbert' cartoonist planning custom home here". Pleasanton Weekly. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ^ "Healdsburg author Jean Hegland's book Into the Forest headed to the big screen". January 15, 2016.
- ^ "Welcome!" (PDF). Los Altos History Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2015.