Welcome to Alabama Authors of the 19th and 20th Centuries, a vibrant academic website curated by Dr. Beverley Park Rilett and a team of passionate student research assistants at Auburn University in Alabama, including Logan Phelps, Cady Pridgeon, Keanna Tennyson, Laura Wilson, Amee Kivette, Shataydrian Marshall, Corey McDaniels, and Kevien Shelton. Meet our Project Team.
Discover Alabama's literary heritage. Our directory showcases renowned authors connected to Alabama, along with the books they published. Browse their portraits, biographical sketches, publication details, book jacket images, and an interactive literary map highlighting the places they once called home.
As of January 1, 2024, we provide detailed information on 150 esteemed Alabama authors in this first phase of our project. In the next two years, we will be expanding our collection to include more than 1,000 additional writers and their books. We are already working on new interactive data visualization tools and features to enhance the user experience, so you'll want to return often.
We would like to express our gratitude to the diligent researchers behind the following websites, which inspired our own digital archive project, especially Dr. Midge Coates, who granted us permission to adapt her original author descriptions.
- Encyclopedia of Alabama (a longstanding and ever-growing digital archive published by Auburn University)
- This Goodly Land (a project created by Jay LaMar and digital scholarship librarian Dr. Midge Coates, with their team of research assistants at Auburn University Libraries, 2005-2010).
- University of Alabama Libraries’ Alabama Authors (a comprehensive list originally compiled by the Alabama Library Association's Bibliographic Committee and later the Alabama Center for the Book).
If you have comments or questions, please direct them to Dr. Beverley Park Rilett at BRilett2@Auburn.edu Peace eagle!