# 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.
* 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
* Scott Adams (June 8, 1957 – ), Dilbert
* 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
* Charlie Jane Anders, Six Months, Three Days
* Brent Anderson (June 15, 1955 – ), Astro City series
* Robert Mailer Anderson, Boonville, The Adventures of Teddy Ballgame, Windows on the World
* Sarah Andrews, An Eye For Gold
* 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
* 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 (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 – )