List of novelists from the United States

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.

Table of contents 1 A 2 B 3 C 4 D 5 E 6 F 7 G 8 H 9 I 10 J 11 K 12 L 13 M 14 N 15 O 16 P 17 Q 18 R 19 S 20 T 21 U 22 V 23 W 24 X 25 Y 26 Z

A

• Kathy Acker, (died 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[?]
• Gertrude Atherton[?], author of The Conqueror[?]
• Paul Auster, (born 1947), postmodernist mystery writer extrordinaire, 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[?]
• Russell Banks[?], (1940- ), author of The Sweet Hereafter
• John Franklin Bardin[?]
• Joel Barlow, (1754-1812)
• Charles Baxter
• 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
• Ambrose Bierce, (1842-c.1914)
• George Borrow[?]
• 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)
• Francis 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
• Erskin 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 and Clay[?], Wonder Boys[?]
• Robert W. Chambers, (1865-1933)
• Raymond Chandler, (1888-1959)
• Lydia Maria Child[?]
• Kate Chopin, (1850-1904)
• Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), the former British Prime Minister's American cousin
• Tom Clancy, (born 1947), 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, author of Leatherstocking Tales
• Charles Cotton[?]
• Douglas Coupland, (born 1961)
• Stephen Crane, (1871-1900), The Red Badge of Courage
• Francis Marion Crawford[?]
• 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[?]
• Margaret Deland[?]
• Don DeLillo, (born 1936), author of White Noise[?]
• Stephen Dobyns[?]
• Theodore Dreiser, realist, author of Sister Carrie
• John Dos Passos
• Timothy Dwight[?]

E

• Dave Eggers
• Edward Eggleston[?]
• Edward S. Ellie[?]
• Brett Easton Ellis[?], author of American Psycho
• Ralph Ellison, (1914-1994), Invisible Man, Juneteenth
• Louise Erdrich
• 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[?]
• Hannah Webster Foster[?]
• John Fox[?]
• Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections
• Harold Frederic[?]
• Mary E. Wilkins Freeman[?]

G

• William Gaddis, (1922-1998)
• Hamlin Garland[?]
• Ellen Glasgow[?]
• William Goodwin[?]
• Ben K. Green
• Sammy Gouti, author of The SHUMS
• 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
• 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
• Ernest Hemingway, (1899-1961), author of For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, and The Sun Also Rises[?]
• Robert Herrick, (1591-1674)
• Carl Hiaasen, (born 1953), author of environmental thrillers such as Sick Puppy
• Josiah Gilbert Holland[?]
• Mary Jane Holmes[?]
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, (1809-1894)
• Anthony Hope, (1863-1933)
• Francis Hopkinson, (1737-1791)
• Blance Willis Howard[?]
• 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[?]
• Sylvester Judd[?]
• James Jones[?]
• Jan Karon, (1937- )

K

• John Pendleton Kennedy[?]
• Jack Kerouac, beatnik, author of On the Road[?] (1952).
• Barbara Kingsolver[?] author of The Poisonwood Bible[?] and Prodigal Summer[?], amongst others
• Joseph Kirkland[?]
• Jerzy Kosinski, (1933-1991), of Jewish origins - his works are in English

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)
• Alfred Henry Lewis[?]
• Sinclair Lewis, (1885-1951), author of Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Main Street[?]
• Jack London, (1876-1916), author of The Sea Wolf[?]
• Stephen King, (born 1947), horror novelist
• Robert Ludlum, (1927-2001)

M

• Carson McCullers[?]
• John D. MacDonald[?], detective fiction
• Larry McMurtry[?]
• 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[?]
• George Barr McCutcheon[?]
• 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[?], (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)

P

• Thomas Nelson Page[?]
• James Kirk Paulding[?]
• Chuck Palahniuk (1962- ), author of Fight Club and Choke
• Walker Percy, (1916-1990)
• David Graham Phillips[?]
• Richard Powers
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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)
• 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)
• Daniel Pierce Thompson[?]
• Maurice Thompson[?]
• Hunter S. Thompson, "gonzo journalist"
• John Kennedy Toole, (1937-1969)
• 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 Rabit Run[?] and sequels.

V

• Kurt Vonnegut, (born 1922), author of Cat's Cradle

W

• Alice Walker, (born 1944)
• David Foster Wallace, (born 1962)
• Lew Wallace, (1827-1905)
• William Ware[?]
• 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)
• John Williams, (1731-1799)
• Augusta Jane Evan Wilson[?]
• Theodore Winthrop[?]
• William Wirt[?]
• Owen Wister[?]
• Tom Wolfe, (born 1931), author of The Bonfire of Vanities[?]
• Thomas Wolfe, author of You Can't Go Home Again
• Samuel Woodworth[?]
• Constance Fenimore Woolson[?]

X

Y

Z

See also: list of novelists, list of people from the United States, list of people by occupation, list of people by nationality.