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From Capote to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Many Writers Have Lived in Fairfield County

Maxwell Perkins, who edited Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Wolfe, lived in New Canaan.

Copasetic. That’s the word that seems to best explain the relationship between Fairfield County and its legions of writers: They find it to be completely satisfactory.

Each town seems to have its own stable of famous writers, from the past and present, often cited for boasting rights on town directories.

Following up on last week’s list of , Patch did a quick (and inexhaustive) survey to compile a list of famous and somewhat less so devotees of the written word. Here follows a preliminary posting (in alphabetical order by town) of published writers who have spent some time in this area (full-time and weekending and everything in between), with some of their best-known works. Help us fill it out in the comments section below!

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Bridgeport

Joseph Payne Brennan (writer or fantasy and horror fiction)

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Darien

Richard Bissell (novelist and playwright)

Erskine Caldwell (Tobacco RoadGod's Little Acre)

Tom Gammill (Emmy-winning TV producer and writer)

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Dearly BelovedGift from the Sea)

Easton

Elise Broach (children’s book author, When Dinosaurs Came with Everything)

James Prosek author of 20 books (including Eels and A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton, The Complete Angler) besides being an artist, naturalist and photographer.

Edna Ferber, novelist and playwright (So BigShow Boat)

Helen Keller, author (Out of the DarkThe World I Live In)

Ida M. Tarbell, muckraking non-fiction writer (The History of the Standard Oil Company)

Fairfield

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), the only winner of a Pulitzer Prize for both fiction and poetry (All the King’s Men)

Pat Jordan (sportswriter, A False Spring)

Greenwich

Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985)(novelist)(Tobacco RoadGod’s Little Acre)

Truman Capote (1924–1984) (novelist, Breakfast at Tiffany’sIn Cold Blood)

Caroline B. Cooney (horror and mystery author)

A. J. Cronin (1896–1981) (Scottish author) (The Keys of the Kingdom)

Frederick Exley (1929–1992) (author)(A Fan’s Notes)

Howard Fast (Greenwich and Redding)(1914–2003)(author, Spartacus and dozens of novels)

Anya Seton (1904–1990) (author of historical romances)(Foxfire and Dragonwyck)

New Canaan

Armstrong Sperry (children’s book author, Call It Courage)

Ann Coulter (author and columnist, High Crimes and Misdemeanors)

Norman Cousins (magazine editor and author, Human Options)

Jack Douglas (humorist, My Brother Was an Only Child)

Phoebe Dunn (children’s book writer, The Little Pig)

Gerald Green (author, The Last Angry Man)

Maxwell Perkins (editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe)

Warren Allen Smith (author of Who’s Who in Hell)

Norwalk

Author Philip Caputo (A Rumor of War)

Johnny Gruelle (author, children’s book illustrator and creator of Raggedy Ann)

Redding

Joel Barlow (1754-1812), epic poet (The Vision of Columbus and Columbia)

Tasha Tudor (1915-2008) (children’s book author and illustrator, Pumpkin MoonshineCorgiville Fair)

Flannery O’Connor (novelist who wrote Wise Blood while living in Redding from 1949-51)

Elizabeth Janeway (Daisy Kenyon)

Joseph Wood Krutch (The Modern Temper)

Jane and Michael Stern (authors of Roadfood and other books)

Albert Bigelow Paine (biographer, Thomas Nast)

Ruth Stout (wrote about organic gardening)

Anne Parrish Titzell (1888-1957) (children’s book author, Pocket Full of Poses)

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock

Mark Twain (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

William H. Honan (author, Visions of InfamyTreasure Hunt)

(Disclosure: Mr. Honan is the writer’s husband.)

Ridgefield

Judy Collins (singer-songwriter-novelist, Trust Your HeartSanity and Grace)

Harvey Fierstein (playwright, Torch Song Trilogy)

Eugene O’Neill (playwright, Long Day’s Journey Into Night)

Cornelius Ryan (The Longest DayA Bridge Too Far)

Maurice Sendak (children’s book author and illustrator, Where the Wild Things Are)

Richard Scarry (children’s book author and illustrator, What Do People Do All Day?)

Andy Luckey (children’s book author and illustrator, Spin & Sparkle)

Clare Booth Luce (playwright, The Women)

Stamford

William F. Buckley, Jr. (author and columnist, God and Man at Yale)

Harry Harrison (science fiction writer, Make Room! Make Room!)

John Hawkes (novelist, The Lime TreeThe Beetle Leg)

Weston

Erica Jong (novelist and poet, Fear of Flying)

Keith Richards (Life)

James Thurber (Short storywriter, My Life and Hard Times)

Westport

Lincoln Child (author of techno-thriller and horror novels)

Peter De Vries (novelist, homorist, The Blood of the LambWitch’s Milk)

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novelist, The Great Gatsby)

Hardie Gramatky (author, artist, illustrator)

Jane Green, also known as Jane Green Warburg (author)

A.E. Hotchner, author and cofounder with Paul Newman of Newman's Own

Shirley Jackson (novelist and short story writer, The Lottery)

Melissa Kirsch ( author, The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything)

Ruth Krauss (1901–1993) (children’s book author, The Carrot Seed)

Nora Benjamin Kubie (1899–1988) (author and illustrator of children's books)

Robert Lawson (1892–1957), an author and artist whose children's books made him the first person to receive both the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945) and Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1940)

Sheila Lukins (1942–2009) (cook and food writer who co-authored The Silver Palate series of cookbooks )

Max Wilk (author, Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River)

Jane Yolen (author, Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite)

Robert Ludlum (author of thriller novels, The Bourne Identity)

Wilton

Ira Levin (playwright and novelist, Deathtrap and A Kiss Before Dying)

Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (children’s book authors, The Terrible Troll BirdsEast of the Sun and West of the Moon)

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