List of San Francisco Bay Area writers

This is a list of San Francisco Bay Area writers, notable writers who have lived in, or written about, the San Francisco Bay Area.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Contents: 

• Top
• 0–9
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

A

• Chester Aaron (May 9, 1923 – August 30, 2019), An American Ghost ^[1]
• Scott Adams (June 8, 1957 – ), Dilbert ^[2]
• Kim Addonizio (July 31, 1954 – ), My Dreams Out in the Street
• Laura Albert (November 2, 1965 – ), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
• David M. Alexander (1945 – ), My Real Name Is Lisa
• Isabel Allende (August 2, 1942 – ), The House of the Spirits
• Dorothy Allison (April 11, 1949 – ), Bastard out of Carolina ^[1]
• Charlie Jane Anders, Six Months, Three Days
• Brent Anderson (June 15, 1955 – ), Astro City series ^[1]
• Robert Mailer Anderson, Boonville, The Adventures of Teddy Ballgame, Windows on the World
• Sarah Andrews, An Eye For Gold ^[1]
• Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Tamim Ansary (November 4, 1948 – ), West of Kabul, East of New York
• Mary Therese Austin (d. 1889), theater critic, The Argonaut

B

• Natalie Baszile, Queen Sugar
• Peter S. Beagle (April 20, 1939 – ), The Last Unicorn
• John Bear (1938 – ), Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning
• Dodie Bellamy, Pink Steam
• Hester A. Benedict (1838–1921), president, Pacific Coast Women's Press Association
• Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?)
• Terry Bisson (February 12, 1942 – January 10, 2024), "They're Made Out of Meat"
• Vance Bourjaily (September 17, 1922 – August 31, 2010), Brill Among the Ruins
• Steven R. Boyett, Elegy Beach
• Kate Braverman (February 5, 1949 – October 12, 2019), "Squandering the Blue"
• Gray Brechin (September 2, 1947 – ), "Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin"
• Genea Brice, poet laureate of Vallejo, California
• Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926), How Plants are Trained to Work for Man

C

• Patrick Califia (1954 – ), Speaking Sex to Power
• Ethan Canin (July 19, 1960 – ), For Kings and Planets
• Gail Carriger (May 4, 1976 – ), Soulless
• Michael Chabon (May 24, 1963 – ), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
• Belo Cipriani (June 21, 1980 – ), Blind: A Memoir
• Meg Waite Clayton (January 1, 1959 – ), The Last Train to London, The Race for Paris, The Wednesday Sisters
• Ann Weiser Cornell (1949 – ), The Power of Focusing
• Andy Couturier (June 3, 1964 – ), The Abundance of Less

D

• Avram Davidson (April 23, 1923 – May 8, 1993), The Scarlet Fig
• Kyra Davis, Sex, Murder and a Double Latte
• Tiffanie DeBartolo (November 27, 1970 – ), How To Kill a Rock Star, Dream for an Insomniac
• Alonzo Delano (July 2, 1806 – September 8, 1874), On the Trail to the California Gold Rush
• Diane di Prima (August 6, 1934 – October 25, 2020), Loba
• N. A. Diaman (November 1, 1936 – November 8, 2020), Castro Street Memories
• Philip K. Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Greg Downs (November 22, 1971 – ), Spit Baths
• Howard Dully (November 30, 1948 – ), My Lobotomy
• Robert Duncan (January 7, 1919 – February 3, 1988), The Opening of the Field, Bending the Bow

E

• Dossie Easton (February 26, 1944 – ), The Ethical Slut
• Dave Eggers (March 12, 1970 – ), A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , You Shall Know Our Velocity
• Duane Elgin (1943 – ), Voluntary Simplicity
• Stephen Elliott (December 3, 1971 – ), Happy Baby

F

• Lawrence Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021), A Coney Island of the Mind
• Timothy Ferris (August 29, 1944 – ), The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report
• Karen Joy Fowler (February 7, 1950 – ), The Jane Austen Book Club
• Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
• Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963), "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

G

• Michelle Gagnon (July 4, 1971 – ), Don't Turn Around
• Cristina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban; The Aguero Sisters; King of Cuba
• Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970), Perry Mason novels
• Eric Garris (December 1953 – )
• Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997), "Howl"
• Robert Gluck (February 2, 1947 –), Jack the Modernist, Margery Kempe
• Herbert Gold (March 9, 1924 – November 19, 2023), Birth of a Hero
• Lisa Goldstein (November 21, 1953 – ), The Red Magician
• Daphne Gottlieb (1968 – ), Final Girl
• Judy Grahn (July 28, 1940 – ), A Woman Is Talking to Death
• Andrew Sean Greer (November 21, 1970 – ), Less
• Susan Griffin (January 26, 1943 – ), Woman and Nature: the Roaring Inside Her

H

• Katie Hafner (1957 – ), A Romance on Three Legs
• Dashiell Hammett (1894 – 1961)
• Daniel Handler (February 28, 1970 – ), A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Jean Hegland (1956 – ), Into the Forest ^[3]
• John L. Hennessy (1953 – ), Computer Organization and Design
• Dorothy J. Heydt, A Point of Honor
• Jack Hirschman (1933 – 2021)
• Jane Hirshfield (February 24, 1953 – ), The Ink Dark Moon
• Adam Hochschild (1942 – ), King Leopold's Ghost
• Khaled Hosseini (March 4, 1965 – ), The Kite Runner
• Daedalus Howell (July 19, 1972 – ), The Late Projectionist

J

• Shirley Jackson (1916 – 1965)

K

• Richard Kadrey (1957 – ), From Myst to Riven
• Alan Kaufman, Jew Boy
• Jack Kerouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), On the Road
• Laleh Khadivi, The Walking; The Age of Orphans
• Derek Kirk Kim (1974 – ), Same Difference and Other Stories
• Carla King (1958 – ), American Borders, Stories from Elsewhere
• Laurie R. King (September 19, 1952 – ), The Beekeeper's Apprentice
• Maxine Hong Kingston (October 27, 1940 – ), The Woman Warrior
• Ellen Klages (1954 – ), "Basement Magic"

L

• Howard Lachtman (July 8, 1941 – ), American academic, literary critic, editor and author
• Anne Lamott (April 10, 1954 – ), Hard Laughter
• D.L. Lang, poet laureate of Vallejo, California
• Ursula K. Le Guin (October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018), The Dispossessed
• Michael Lederer (July 9, 1956 – ), Cadaqués
• Gus Lee (1946 – )
• Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. (1910 – 1992)
• Donna Levin (September 4, 1954 –), The Talking Stick
• Daniel Levitin (1957 – ), This Is Your Brain On Music, The Organized Mind
• Michael Lewis (October 15, 1960 – ), Liar's Poker
• Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), "To Build a Fire"
• Ki Longfellow (December 9, 1944 – ), "The Secret Magdalene"

M

• Nick Mamatas (February 20, 1972 – ), Move Under Ground
• Micheline Aharonian Marcom (1968 – ), Three Apples Fell from Heaven
• Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
• Armistead Maupin (May 13, 1944 – ), Tales of the City
• Terry McMillan (October 18, 1951 – ), Waiting to Exhale
• Cathleen Miller (February 13, 1956 – ), Champion of Choice
• Joaquin Miller (September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913), "Columbus"
• Christopher Moore (January 1, 1957 – ), Bloodsucking Fiends
• John Muir (1838 – 1914)

N

• Annalee Newitz (1969 – ), White Trash: Race and Class in America
• Janis Cooke Newman (1955 – ), Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln
• Wendy Newman (1967 – ), 121 First Dates: How to Succeed at Online Dating, Fall in Love, and Live Happily Ever After (Really!)
• Beth Nguyen, Stealing Buddha's Dinner; Short Girls; Pioneer Girl
• Katia Noyes, Crashing America

O

• Carol Anne O'Marie (1933 – 2009)
• Tommy Orange (January 19, 1982 – ), There There

P

• Charlotte Painter (1926 – ), The Fortunes of Laurie Breaux
• Stephan Pastis (January 16, 1968 – ), Pearls Before Swine
• Diana Paxson (February 20, 1943 – ), Mistress of the Jewels
• Howard Pease (September 6, 1894 – April 14, 1974), The Tod Moran Mysteries
• Aimee Phan, We Should Never Meet; The Reeducation of Cherry Truong
• Michael Pollan (February 6, 1955 – ), The Omnivore's Dilemma
• Tim Pratt (December 12, 1976 – ), The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl

Q

• Carol Queen (1958 – ), Real Live Nude Girl
• Lisa Quinn, $500 Room Makeovers

R

• Justin Raimondo (November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019), Reclaiming the American Right
• Ruth Reichl (January 16, 1948 – ), Tender at the Bone
• Mark Rein-Hagen, Vampire: The Masquerade
• Kathryn Reiss (December 4, 1957 – ), Time Windows
• Barbara Jane Reyes (1971 – ), Poeta en San Francisco
• Rudy Rucker (March 22, 1946 – ), Software

S

• William Saroyan (1908 – 1981)
• Kate Schatz (September 19, 1978 – ), Rad American Women A-Z
• Ariel Schrag (December 29, 1979 – ), Awkward
• Charles M. Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000), Peanuts
• Kemble Scott (1962 – ), SoMa
• Mary Ann Shaffer (December 13, 1934 – February 16, 2008), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
• Dave Smeds (1955 – ), The Sorcery Within
• Jane Smiley (September 26, 1949 – ), A Thousand Acres
• Jeremy Adam Smith, The Daddy Shift
• Gary Snyder (1930 – )
• Jeremy Snyder, poet laureate of Vallejo, California
• Rebecca Solnit (1961 – ), River of Shadows
• Starhawk (June 17, 1951 – ), The Spiral Dance
• Joseph Staten, Halo: Contact Harvest
• Danielle Steel (August 14, 1947 – )
• Melissa Stein, Rough Honey, Terrible Blooms
• George Sterling (1869 – 1926)
• George R. Stewart (May 31, 1895 – August 22, 1980), Pickett's Charge
• Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (1968 – ), The Greenhouse
• Emelie Tracy Y. Swett (1863 – 1892), Californian Illustrated Magazine
• Rachel Swirsky (April 14, 1982 – ), "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window"
• Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, That's Revolting!

T

• Amy Tan (February 19, 1952 – ), The Joy Luck Club
• Michelle Tea (1971 – ), Rose of No Man's Land
• Daniel Terdiman (May 31, 1974 – ), The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life
• Walter Tevis (1928 – 1994)
• Robert Alfred Theobald (1884 – 1957), The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor
• Adrian Tomine, Optic Nerve
• Gail Tsukiyama, The Samurai's Garden
• Mark Twain (1835 – April 21, 1910), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

V

• Abraham Verghese (1955 – ), My Own Country

W

• Ayelet Waldman (December 11, 1964 – ), Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
• Alice Walker (February 9, 1944 – ), The Color Purple
• Vivian Walsh, Olive, the Other Reindeer
• Alice Waters (April 28, 1944 – ), The Art of Simple Food
• Jacob Weisman (February 23, 1965 – ), Death and the Elephant
• Herman Whitaker (1867 – 1919), The Mystery of the Barranca
• Sean Wilsey (1970 – ), Oh the Glory of It All
• Yvor Winters ^[4] (October 17, 1900 – January 25, 1968), "The Testament of a Stone"
• Emma Wolf (1865 – 1932), A Prodigal in Love
• Naomi Wolf (1962 – )
• Tobias Wolff (June 19, 1945 – ), This Boy's Life
• Russ Woody, The Wheel of Nuldoid

Y

• Laurence Yep (1948 – )

Z

• Daisy Zamora (June 20, 1950 – ), En limpio se escribe la vida
• Helen Zia (1952 – )

See also

• San Francisco Bay Area portal

• List of people associated with San Francisco
• Litquake

References

1. "Community :: A Sonoma County Library project". Sonoma County Library. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
2. Pelletier, Janet (December 14, 2007). "'Dilbert' cartoonist planning custom home here". Pleasanton Weekly. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
3. "Healdsburg author Jean Hegland's book Into the Forest headed to the big screen". January 15, 2016.
4. "Welcome!" (PDF). Los Altos History Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2015.