I live in Mitchell, SD.  It's best known for it's WORLD'S ONLY CORN PALACE.  It's a small town with a population of 14,000.

What isn't well known is that Mitchell has three published authors in the community.

The most famous of the three is George McGover.  He has written many books about politics, world hunger, and the Vietnam War.  His most personal book would be "Terry: My Daughter's Life and Death Struggle with Alcoholism"

The second author is Jean Patrick. She has written about ten books. Her most famous book would be "The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth."

The third author is Jim McLaird. He has written a few books about the legends of the Old West.  Two of his books would be "Calamity Jane: The Woman and the Legend" and "Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane: Deadwood Legends".

What amazes me is I know all three authors.

Is there an author from your home town or do you personally know an author? 

I live in Austin TX and we have lots of authors here.  2 that I personally know are Katherine Eliska Kimbriel and Joe Domenici.  I believe Katherine has 3 books published and Joe just published his first!  He is the featured author at B&N here this month and is holding an author signing tomorrow.  Of course I am going!!!  Katherine writes fantasy and Joe's book is a thriller.  REALLY GOOD!!!!  He let us borrow an ARC of his book and I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

Another author is Mary Willis Walker.  She writes mysteries, but hasn't published anything in a while.  James Michener lived here for many years.  I know there are tons more, but I am drawing a blank....

BTW - Joe's book is called "Bringing Back the Dead."  Please check it out and feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

Phillip Margolin was/is an attorney in Portland, Oregon, my home town. I don't know if he is an attorney anymore as he turned out to be a brillient writer. After reading one of his books, I proceeded to read all of them and was never let down. It is kind of fun to hear about places and streets that you absolutely know where they are.

Try Him, you'll like him!!!

Debi J.

mztrees

I know 2 authors from my hometown, and they are brothers!  We all went to the same church. 

One is Tim Bellavia.  He lives in NYC now and wrote a book called "We're All The Same Inside", about a little alien who comes to earth.  It deals with prejudice/skin color (even though our skins are not the same color, "we're all the same inside").  I think he wrote a sequel where the alien's little sister comes to Earth.  I haven't been able to find the books, though, and we've been out of touch a while.

His younger brother, David Bellavia, wrote a book about serving overseas in the war.  I happened to see his book in our hometown bookstore when I was visiting this summer and was so surprised and proud for him!  I remember teaching him in Bible School! 

Bailey Aldrich

Debbie Macomber is from my small hometown in WA.  I went to school with her kids. She's a terrific author and a terrific lady.

For those of you that like to promote your local authors, take a look at the new swap I just started.

***STATE Swap with a Twist***

Sarah Bird is another Austinite.  I think Jeff Abbott lives here (or used to).

I used to live in Bangor, Maine, home of Stephen King.  His house has an amazing black wrought iron fence around it with welded-in bats and spiders and such.

Lisa, did you know that the Little League field behind Stephen King's house is called "Field of Screams"?

We live in a part of San Jose called Almaden Valley.  Last year, Khaled Hosseini, author of THE KITE RUNNER and A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, moved into a house a few miles from us. 

My actual hometown, no. Oh, but wait, I grew up in Calaveras County, where Mark Twain's story is set, but he wasn't from there.

But Jim Lynch is from where I live now, and his fabulous book, The Highest Tide is set here.

Anna - how cool is that?

Hi Mimi!

Real cool!  I've added THE HIGHEST TIDE to my wish list.  Thanks! ( I may even go out and buy it.)

If I still had my copy, I'd send it to you, it is really good.

And, waves back!

Lots of authors in my town!  Too many to even think of off the top of my head.  Just a few:  Nicole Bokat who wrote What Matters Most and Redeeming Eve. 

Naomi Rand.  Christina Baker Kline.  Karen Abarbanel.  Pamela Satran.  Jon Katz.  Stephen Colbert!! (I Am America and So Can You)

I live on the outskirts of Richmond, VA (not my hometown but have been here longer than anywhere) and Patricia Cornwell lives here.  It's was kinda cool reading hers and recognizing areas of town in her books.

John Steinbeck since I live in Salinas, California. Before my work moved we were just down the road from Steinbeck house and across the road from Steinbeck Museum. 

No one else as far as I am aware.

I live in the Provo/Orem Utah area where Brandon Sanderson lives.  I've met him at a local book signing.  FYI - he is the author of Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy, and is finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

No but the pink ranger is from my home town. And John mellancamp is from my town right now. Still live there actually.

I live 50 miles west of Stephen King. He lives in Bangor Maine and I live in Norridgewock. I attended U of Maine and he was our guest speaker at graduation. He also is in a band and has a radio show. But don't know him personally. He's donated a ton of money to the local hospital for their pediatrics ward. He's a great man and from what I hear he isn't the least bit snobish because of his fame. He's just a regular guy.

My dad's cousin used to live in Maine and Stephen King used to come into his tile store.  He said he's the nicest, most regular guy -- just like you said, Debbie. 

I grew up in Medford, MA, and probably our most famous author is Paul Theroux, who has done a lot of travel writing and also wrote The Mosquito Coast.  Unfortunately he appeared in print majorly dissing his hometown, and is no longer considered a Favorite Son.  (We used to get my dad his books, but not anymore.  I mean, it's one thing for us to say how totally lame Medford is....;)  The mayor of NY, Michael Bloomburg, is from Meffa, and his mother still lives here.  Amelia Earhart also lived her for a while with her sister.  And we're also the home of Fannie Farmer!  And the guy who wrote Jingle Bells!  (Wait a minute, maybe Theroux had a point...)

I live in Boston now, and Dennis Lehane used to live in the neighborhood.  Not that I ever saw him -- he lived at the other end -- but it was still cool.  Amazing writer -- he has the best sense of place of any author I've read...even though the neighborhoods in his books are fictional, you can easily tell what parts of Boston he's lived in and how well he knows these places.

I live on Mount Desert Island. Home of Kristin Britain, former home of Terry Goodkind, Betty Morrison, and not unfamiliar territory to Stephen and Tabitha King. Linda Greenlaw lives about 20 miles away. Tess Gerritson is also near by.  The author that wrote Parsols of Fern also lives here but for the life of me I can never remember his name!

There are a lot of authors in Maine.

I've met most of them as I used to work in a bookstore in Bar Harbor.

I live in Martinez, CA. The most famous author from there is Richard Carlson, writer of the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" books. A few cities away, is the hometown of Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachutte?  His related website is www.jobhuntersbible.com.