Literature of Alabama (Overview)

Alabama literature includes the poetry, fiction, memoir, journalism and drama written by Alabamians or about Alabama, from early French and travel accounts through Southern humor and Civil War narratives to the Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction of the twentieth century. The Encyclopedia of Alabama notes that many Alabama works have been adapted for film, including Forrest Gump, Fried Green Tomatoes, Big Fish, Paper Moon and Full Metal Jacket.[1]

Early writing

André Pénigaut wrote about the French Gulf Coast in the early 1700s and is often called Alabama’s first literary figure. William Bartram’s Travels (1791) described the region’s plants and animals and set a tradition of nature writing, Anne Royall published Letters from Alabama in 1830 and The Lost Virgin of the South (1833), credited to a pseudonym, is often cited as the first novel published in Alabama.[1]

Nineteenth-century humor, poetry and fiction

Johnson Jones Hooper’s Some Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs (1845) and Joseph Glover Baldwin’s The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi (1853) are examples of the Old Southwest humor tradition. Alexander Beaufort Meek’s long poem The Red Eagle (1855) concerns the Creek leader William Weatherford, and Augusta Jane Evans Wilson’s Macaria (1863) is a Confederate novel. Louise Clarke Pyrnelle’s Diddie, Dumps, and Tot (1882) became a national children’s classic, and William Russell Smith’s Reminiscences of a Long Life (1889) is an early autobiography whose author is called the father of Alabama literature.[1]

War writing

War has been a major subject: Theodore O’Hara’s elegy “The Bivouac of the Dead” honors Mexican-American War dead, Jeremiah Clemens wrote the Civil War novel Tobias Wilson (1865), William March’s Company K (1933) is a notable World War I novel and Eugene B. Sledge’s memoir With the Old Breed (1981) covers the Pacific war.[1]

Twentieth-century fiction

T. S. Stribling’s trilogy The Forge, The Store and Unfinished Cathedral chronicles a north Alabama family, and The Store won the 1933 Pulitzer Prize. Zora Neale Hurston, born in Notasulga, wrote Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); see Zora Neale Hurston. Carl Carmer’s Stars Fell on Alabama (1934) was a best seller, and Lella Warren’s Foundation Stone (1940) was once the best-selling American novel in the world.[1]

Autobiography and nonfiction

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901) and The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (1903) are American classics. Rick Bragg’s family trilogy begins with All Over but the Shoutin’ (1997), and E. O. Wilson wrote the memoir Naturalist (1994).[1]

Children’s literature, drama and film

Children’s authors named by the Encyclopedia of Alabama include Maud McKnight Lindsay, Charles Ghigna, Faye Gibbons and Angela Johnson. Drama has been less prominent, though Rebecca Gilman’s plays have reached New York and London.[1] See Films Shot in Alabama for film adaptations and productions.

FAQs

Who is considered Alabama’s first literary figure? André Pénigaut, who wrote about the French Gulf Coast in the early 1700s.

Which Alabama works have been adapted for film? Examples include To Kill a Mockingbird, Forrest Gump, Fried Green Tomatoes and Big Fish.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Alabama Literature

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue