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Josephine Lyons Scott Pinckney (January 25, 1895 - October 4, 1957) was a novelist and poet in the literary revival of the American South after World War I. Her first best-selling novel was the social comedy Three O'Clock Dinner (1945).

Josephine Pinckney was born January 25, 1895 to Thomas Pinkney and Camilla Scott. She attended Ashley Hall School and established a literary magazine there, graduating in 1912. She then attended college at the College of Charleston, Radcliffe College, and Columbia University, and held an honorary degree from the College of Charleston, given 1935. She received the Southern Authors Award in 1946.

Pinckney was an active participant in the "Charleston Renaissance", involved in institutions such as the Charleston Museum and Dock Street Theatre. She was part of the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals, transcribing and annotating African American songs.

She died October 4, 1957, and is buried in Magnolia Cemetery.

Autobiographical Snippet from the dust cover of Three O'clock Dinner:

"Josephine Pinckney may be described as a cosmopolitan Charlestonian. She has traveled widely abroad, spent a year in Italy, lived winters in New York and summers in Mexico, but she always goes back to home and garden in Charleston,just as her family, well known in the south, has for generations. A literary lady, she has previously published a book of poems, "Sea Drinking Cities" and a novel, Hilton Head. With DuBose Heyward, Hervey Allen and others, she started the Poetry Society of South Carolina which has a strong influence on the rebirth of literature in the South. As a hobby, Miss Pinckney collects and transcribes spirituals which she sings with a group called the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals. Gardening and dogs have a strong appeal for her, and she collects old china and first editions."

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Josephine Pinckney", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0