List of American novelists

This is a list of novelists from the United States. Novelists on this list should be notable in some way, and ideally have a Wikipedia article.

A

• Kathy Acker, (1947-1997)
• Henry Adams, (1838-1918), Democracy: An American Novel
• George Ade, author of The Slim Princess
• Louisa May Alcott, (1832-1888), author of Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys
• Thomas Bailey Aldrich
• Nelson Algren, (1909-1981), author of The Man With the Golden Arm.
• Sherwood Anderson
• Christopher Anvil, (born 1922) (pseudonym of Harry C. Crosby)
• Isaac Asimov, (1920-1992)
• Gertrude Atherton, author of The Conqueror
• Louis Auchincloss (born 1917)
• Paul Auster, (born 1947), author of the City of Glass trilogy, Leviathan, Timbuktu

B

• Richard Bach, (born 1936)
• James Baldwin, (1924-1987), writer known for exploring race and sexuality, author of Another Country
• Irving Bacheller, author of A Man for the Ages
• Nicholson Baker, (born 1957) author of The Mezzanine and Vox
• Russell Banks, (1940- ), author of The Sweet Hereafter
• John Franklin Bardin
• Joel Barlow, (1754-1812)
• John Barth, (born 1930)
• Charles Baxter, (born 1947)
• Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Washington Square Ensemble, (1983), Waiting for the End of the World (1985), and A Soldier's Joy (1989) amongst others
• Edward Bellamy, author of Looking Backward, 2000-1887
• Hillaire Belloc
• Saul Bellow, (born 1915), author of Henderson the Rain King
• Robert Montgomery Bird, (1803-1854)
• Ambrose Bierce, (1842-c.1914)
• George Borrow
• Kay Boyle (1902-1992)
• T.C. Boyle, author of The Road to Wellville, The Tortilla Curtain and A Friend of the Earth
• Ray Bradbury, (born 1920), author of The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes
• Richard Brautigan, (1935-1984)
• Charles Brockden Brown
• William Hill Brown
• Frederick Buechner, (born 1926)
• Pearl S. Buck, (1892-1973), The Good Earth
• Charles Bukowski, (1920-1994), poet who also wrote novels about down-and-out life, including Post Office, Factotum, and Pulp.
• William S. Burroughs, (1914-1997)
• Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of Little Lord Fauntleroy

C

• G. W. Cable
• James M. Cain, (1892-1977), author of The Postman Always Rings Twice and Mildred Pierce
• Erskine Caldwell, author of God's Little Acre
• Truman Capote, (1924-1984)
• Orson Scott Card, (born 1951)
• Willa Cather, (1873 in-1947), modernist, author of The Professor's House, My Antonia
• Mary Hartwell Catherwood
• Michael Chabon, (born 1964), author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys
• Robert W. Chambers, (1865-1933)
• Raymond Chandler, (1888-1959)
• Lydia Maria Child
• Kate Chopin, (1850-1904)
• Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park.
• Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), the former British Prime Minister's American cousin
• Tom Clancy, (born 1947), author of The Hunt for Red October
• Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., author of The Gunmaker of Moscow
• John Esten Cooke, author of The Youth of Jefferson
• James Fenimore Cooper, (1789-1851), author of Leatherstocking Tales
• Robert Coover
• Charles Cotton
• Douglas Coupland, (born 1961)
• Stephen Crane, (1871-1900), The Red Badge of Courage
• Francis Marion Crawford
• Harry Crews (born 1935)
• Lisa Crystal Carver
• Maria Susanna Cummins, (1827-1866)
• George William Curtis, (1824-1892)

D

• Richard Henry Dana, author of Two Years Before the Mast
• Mark Z. Danielewski, (born 1966), author of House of Leaves
• John Davis
• Richard Harding Davis
• Thomas R. DeGregori
• Margaret Deland
• Don DeLillo, (born 1936), author of White Noise
• James Dickey, (1923-1997)
• Stephen Dobyns
• John Dos Passos
• Rita Dove, (born 1952)
• Theodore Dreiser, realist, author of Sister Carrie
• Gerina Dunwich, (born 1959), author of numerous occult books
• Timothy Dwight

E

• Dave Eggers
• Edward Eggleston
• Edward S. Ellie
• Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho
• Ralph Ellison, (1914-1994), Invisible Man, Juneteenth
• Louise Erdrich
• Bret Easton Ellis
• Jeffrey Eugenides, (born 1960), author of The Virgin Suicides

F

• William Faulkner, (1897-1962), Southern Modernist, author of A Light in August
• Jessie Fauset, Harlem Renaissance writer; author of Plum Bun
• Eugene Field, author of Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac
• John Filson, author of Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, (1896-1940), author of The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise
• Paul Leicester Ford, (1865-1902)
• Hannah Webster Foster
• John Fox
• Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections
• Harold Frederic
• Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

G

• William Gaddis, (1922-1998)
• Hamlin Garland
• William Gibson, (born 1948)
• Alexis A. Gilliland, (born 1931)
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, (1860-1935), author of The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland
• Allen Ginsberg, (1926-1997)
• Ellen Glasgow, author of Virginia
• William Goodwin
• Natalie Goldberg
• Ben K. Green
• John Grisham, (born 1955), legal thrillers

H

• Alex Haley, (1921-1992), Roots
• Bayard Rush Hall
• James Hall
• Dashiell Hammett, (1894-1961)
• Barry Hannah
• Arthur Sheburne Hardy
• J. C. Hart
• Bret Harte, (1839-1902)
• Kent Haruf, author of The Tie That Binds and Plainsong
• Alamgir Hashmi, (born 1951)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, (1804-1864), author of The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables
• John Hay, (1838-1905)
• Robert Heinlein, (1907-1988)
• Joseph Heller, (1923-1999), Catch-22, Something Happened
• Mark Helprin, (born 1947), Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War
• Ernest Hemingway, (1899-1961), author of For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, and The Sun Also Rises
• Robert Herrick, (1868-1938)
• Carl Hiaasen, (born 1953), author of environmental thrillers such as Sick Puppy
• Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995), crime writer well-known for Strangers on a Train and the series of Ripley novels.
• Jane Hirshfield, (born 1953)
• Josiah Gilbert Holland
• Mary Jane Holmes
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, (1809-1894)
• Anthony Hope, (1863-1933)
• Francis Hopkinson, (1737-1791)
• Blance Willis Howard
• Carolyn Howard-Johnson, (born 1939) literary fiction/women's fiction/historical fiction Award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered
• E. W. Howe
• William Dean Howells, (1837-1920)
• Langston Hughes, (1902-1967), Simple Comes to Harlem
• David Humphreys, author of Israel Putnam
• Zora Neale Hurston, (1891-1960), anthropologist and novelist, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God

I

• Joseph Holt Ingraham
• John Irving, (born 1942), author of A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules
• Washington Irving, (1783-1859), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle

J

• Helen Hunt Jackson
• Thomas William Jackson
• Henry James, (1843-1916), author of The Golden Bowl, The Ambassadors
• Sarah Orne Jewett, author of The Tory Lover
• Mary Johnston
• Eugene Jolas (1894-1945)
• James Jones, (1921-1977), author of From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line
• Sylvester Judd
• Donald Justice (1925-2004)

K

• Jan Karon, ( born 1937)
• John Pendleton Kennedy
• Jack Kerouac, (1922-1969), beatnik author of On the Road (1952).
• Ken Kesey (1935-2001), author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962).
• Haven Kimmel (born 1965), author of A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana, and others
• Stephen King, prolific horror author.
• Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer, amongst others
• Joseph Kirkland
• Jerzy Kosinski, (1933-1991), American writer of Polish-Jewish origins - his works are in English, accused of plagiarism and writing a fictional autobiography, The Painted Bird.

L

• Anne Lamott
• Sidney Lanier, (1842-1881)
• Nella Larsen, (1891-1964), Harlem Renaissance writer; author of Quicksand and Passing.
• Ursula K. Le Guin, (born 1929), essayist, poet, novelist for children and adults
• Harper Lee, (born 1926), author of To Kill a Mockingbird
• Murray Leinster, (born 1896)
• Ira Levin, (born 1929)
• Steven Levy
• Alfred Henry Lewis
• Sinclair Lewis, (1885-1951), author of Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Main Street
• Jack London, (1876-1916), author of The Sea Wolf
• H. P. Lovecraft, (1890-1937)
• Robert Ludlum, (1927-2001)

M

• John D. MacDonald, detective fiction
• Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It
• Norman Mailer, journalist, author of The Naked and the Dead (1948).
• Charles Major
• Bernard Malamud, (1914-1986)
• Richard Malcolm
• Cotton Mather, (1664-1728), author of Magnalia
• Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City
• William Starbuck Mayo
• Carson McCullers
• George Barr McCutcheon
• Bill McKibben
• Larry McMurtry
• Herman Melville, (1819-1891), Moby-Dick
• Oscar Micheaux, (1884-1951)
• James A. Michener, (1907-1997), author of Tales of the South Pacific
• Henry Miller, (1891-1980), author of frequently banned Tropic of Cancer
• Steven Millhauser, (born 1943)
• Donald Grant Mitchell
• Isaac Mitchell
• S. Weir Mitchell
• Christopher Moore, author of Lamb and others.
• Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize for Literature, author of Beloved
• Bharati Mukherjee, author of Jasmine

N

• Vladimir Nabokov, (1899-1977), lepidopterist, author of Lolita
• John Neal, author of The Down-Easters
• Frank Norris, (1870-1902), author of McTeague

O

• Joyce Carol Oates
• Flannery O'Connor, (1925-1964)
• Eugene O'Neill, (1888-1953)

P

• Thomas Nelson Page
• James Kirk Paulding
• Chuck Palahniuk (born 1962), author of Fight Club and Choke
• Walker Percy, (1916-1990)
• Frank Peretti, (born 1951)
• David Graham Phillips (1867-1911)
• Marge Piercy
• Edgar Allan Poe, (1809-1849)
• Arthur Porges, (born 1915)
• Richard Powers
• Dawn Powell (1896-1965)
• Thomas Pynchon, (born 1937), author of The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, and V. among other works.

Q

• Julia Quinn, (born 1969)

R

• Ayn Rand, (1905-1982), Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead
• Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire
• Harold Robbins, (1916-1997)
• Tom Robbins
• Edward Payson Roe
• Philip Roth, (born 1933), author of Portnoy's Complaint and The Human Stain
• Susan Rowson

S

• J. D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye
• Carl Sagan, (1934-1996)
• Budd Schulberg, author of What Makes Sammy Run? and On the Waterfront
• Sybil Scott
• Catharine Maria Sedgwick
• Sidney Sheldon
• William Gilmore Simms
• Upton Sinclair, socialist, author of The Jungle (1906)
• Francis Hopkinson Smith, author of Colonel Carter of Cartersville
• Terry Southern, author of The Magic Christian
• Emma D. E. N. Southworth
• Mickey Spillane, author of I, the Jury (1947), the first of the Mike Hammer books
• Elizabeth Spires, (born 1952)
• Danielle Steel
• Gertrude Stein, (1874-1946), Modernist innovator in prose and poetry, author of Three Lives, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (See also France)
• John Steinbeck, (1902-1968), The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men
• Neal Stephenson, (born 1959), science fiction writer, author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon
• Charles D. Stewart
• Frederick Jesup Stimson
• Frank R. Stockton, (1834-1902)
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, (1811-1896)
• Peter Straub
• Jacqueline Susann, author of Valley of the Dolls, the best selling novel of 1966.

T

• Amy Tan, (born 1952)
• Booth Tarkington, (1869-1946)
• Tabitha Tenney
• Studs Terkel, (born 1912)
• Lucy Terry
• Piri Thomas
• Daniel Pierce Thompson
• Maurice Thompson
• Hunter S. Thompson, "gonzo journalist"
• John Kennedy Toole, (1937-1969) author of A Confederacy of Dunces
• Calvin Trillin (born 1935)
• George Tucker
• Bayard Tuckerman
• Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent
• Harry Turtledove, (born 1949)
• Mark Twain, (1835-1910), pseudonym for Samuel Clemens author of Huckleberry Finn
• Royall Tyler

U

• John Updike, (born 1932), author of Rabbit, Run and sequels.
• Leon Uris, (1924-2003), author of QB VII, Mila 18 and others.

V

• Gore Vidal, (born 1925)
• Kurt Vonnegut, (born 1922), author of Cat's Cradle
• William T. Vollman

W

• Alice Walker, (born 1944)
• David Foster Wallace, (born 1962)
• Lew Wallace, (1827-1905), author of Ben-Hur
• William Ware
• Gertrude Chandler Warner, (1890-1979), author of the Boxcar Children books
• Susan Warner
• Justin Weaver, author of Vintage Pimp
• Mason Locke Weems
• Edward Noyes Westcott
• E. B. White, (1899-1985), author of Charlotte's Web, co-author of The Elements of Style.
• Stewart Edward White
• William Allen White
• Brad Whitlock
• Edith Wharton, (1862-1937)
• Tennessee Williams, (1911-1983)
• Augusta Jane Evan Wilson
• Theodore Winthrop
• William Wirt
• Owen Wister, (1860-1938), author of The Virginian
• Gene Wolfe (born 1931)
• Thomas Wolfe, (1900-1938), author of You Can't Go Home Again
• Tom Wolfe, (born 1931), author of The Bonfire of the Vanities
• Samuel Woodworth
• Constance Fenimore Woolson

X

Robert Clark Young (born 1960), author of One of the Guys

See also

• list of novelists
• list of people from the United States
• list of people by occupation
• list of people by nationality

References

• Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook by Emmanuel S. Nelson (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000)