Local Authors

Writers by town

Town tags record a documented connection through residence, work, study or sustained literary activity, not a current address.

Hillsborough 92

The town the Wall Street Journal called “America’s Little Literary Town.”

Lee Smith · Allan Gurganus · Frances Mayes · Jill McCorkle

Explore Hillsborough writers →

Chapel Hill 223

Home to UNC, longtime publishers and journalists, and generations of writers who have lived and worked here.

Sarah Dessen · Paul Green · Betty Smith · Randall Kenan

Explore Chapel Hill writers →

Carrboro 25

A small town with a long literary streak: poets, novelists, cartoonists, publishers and writers of all kinds.

Daphne Athas · Jay Bryan · Keith Knight · Amanda Bennett

Explore Carrboro writers →

Orange County's literary life does not stop at the town limits: Cedar Grove 2 Efland 1 Mebane 2

Are you an Orange County author, or do you know someone we have missed? Send us a name or correction →

Local Author Directory

Explore 379 writers connected to Orange County · 894 titles in the OCPL catalog

No authors match. Try a different search or filter, or tell us who's missing →

• A
• Milton A. Abernethy Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill With Anthony Buttitta, edited the little magazine Contempo from Chapel Hill from 1931 to 1934, publishing Faulkner and Langston Hughes, and founded the Intimate Bookshop.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Suzanne Adair Historical fiction · Hillsborough Mystery writer whose Michael Stoddard series follows a young British officer through Revolutionary-era North Carolina; her Paper Woman won the Patrick D. Smith Literature Award.
  7 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Agatha Boyd Adams 1892–1950 Biography · Chapel Hill UNC librarian and biographer of Paul Green of Chapel Hill; her daughter Alice Adams appears in this directory in her own right.
  1 title at OCPL
• Alice Adams 1926–1999 Fiction · Chapel Hill Grew up in Chapel Hill and returned to it in fiction; a multiple O. Henry Award winner whose novels include A Southern Exposure.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Ellery Adams Mystery · Chapel Hill Pen name of Jennifer Stanley, New York Times bestselling author of the Secret, Book & Scone Society and Books by the Bay mysteries, written from her home in Chapel Hill.
  15 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Dasan Ahanu Poetry · Chapel Hill Spoken word artist, 2023 Piedmont Laureate, and visiting professor at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Kelly Alexander Food · Chapel Hill Food writer and author of Hometown Appetites, the life of food journalist Clementine Paddleford.
  1 title at OCPL
• Joyce Allen Fiction · Carrboro Children's fantasy author of the Threads Trilogy; read at the Friends' 2015 fall book sale.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Harry Amana History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC journalism professor and historian of the Black press; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Jean Anderson 1929–2023 Biography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill cookbook author and food historian whose books include The American Century Cookbook, A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, and Kiln to Kitchen; a member of the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame.
  7 titles at OCPL
• Camille Andros Children's books · Chapel Hill Picture book author of Charlotte the Scientist Is Squished.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Anne Anthony Fiction · Hillsborough Short story writer whose The Collection: Flash Fiction for Flash Memory was written for readers experiencing memory changes; read at the 2018 Hillsborough Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Allen Appel Fiction · Hillsborough Novelist of the Alex Balfour time-travel series that began with Time After Time (1985) and a longtime reviewer of thrillers; with Sherry Conway Appel he wrote a shelf of gift books for parents and children.
  1 title at OCPL
• Sherry Conway Appel Arts & music · Hillsborough Playwright and communications strategist who, with her husband Allen Appel, wrote the gift books From Mother to Daughter, Thanks, Mom and Wisdom from the Kitchen (St. Martin's).
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Linda Ashman Children's books · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill author of more than fifty picture books, including Rain! and Over the River and Through the Wood; she also wrote The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Writing Picture Books.
  28 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Daphne Athas 1923–2020 Biography · Chapel Hill Longtime UNC teacher whose Entering Ephesus and Chapel Hill in Plain Sight made the town her lifelong subject.
  1 title at OCPL
• Tamara Aycock Memoir & essays Her memoir The Power of Walking in Forgiveness tells her own story of surviving abuse and homelessness with her faith intact.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• B
• Ellyn Bache Romance · Chapel Hill Novelist on the Literary Map's county roster whose Safe Passage became a feature film.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Pam Baggett Poetry Poet whose chapbook Wild Horses follows a friendship from 1970s rock and roll to a bedside farewell.
  1 title at OCPL
• Rosecrans Baldwin Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist and essayist who wrote from Chapel Hill for years; his books include The Last Kid Left and Paris, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Russell Banks 1940–2023 Historical fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of Continental Drift, Affliction, and The Sweet Hereafter; he took his degree at UNC.
  6 titles at OCPL
• Ben Barker Cookbooks · Chapel Hill With Karen Barker, chef-author of Not Afraid of Flavor from their landmark Magnolia Grill.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Karen Barker Food · Chapel Hill James Beard Award-winning pastry chef and co-author of Not Afraid of Flavor and Sweet Stuff.
  1 title at OCPL
• Anne Clinard Barnhill Historical fiction Historical novelist welcomed among the library's local authors in December 2013.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Natania Barron Fantasy Fantasy novelist who led creative writing seminars and author visits at the library in 2012 and 2013.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Kemp Plummer Battle 1831–1919 History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC president and an important early historian of the university; his two-volume History of the University of North Carolina chronicles the campus he led.
  1 title at OCPL
• Jeffery Beam Poetry · Hillsborough Poet whose work weaves the natural world, the body, and the spirit; longtime botanical librarian at UNC. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Aaron Belz Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet laureate from 2014 to 2016; his collections include Lovely, Raspberry and Glitter Bomb.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• John Claude Bemis Children's books · Hillsborough Award-winning author of middle-grade novels, the 2013 Piedmont Laureate for children's literature, and a regular teacher of the library's young-writer workshops.
  13 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Amanda Bennett Poetry · Carrboro Poet of Working the Roots and Carrboro's ninth poet laureate, the first Black woman in the role.
  1 title at OCPL
• Barry Bergey Scholarship Led Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts for three decades; co-author of Folk Masters: A Portrait of America.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Jack Edward Bernhardt Journalism & cartooning Anthropologist and journalist who covered bluegrass, gospel, and country music for the News & Observer for more than thirty years.
  1 title at OCPL
• Doris Betts 1932–2012 Short stories · Chapel Hill Taught creative writing at UNC for more than thirty years and mentored a generation of North Carolina writers; her Beasts of the Southern Wild was a National Book Award finalist. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2004.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Brian Biswas Short stories · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill writer of literary and speculative short fiction; author of A Betrayal and Other Stories.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Ruth Blackwelder History & archives · Hillsborough Her The Age of Orange traced the county's political and intellectual leadership from 1752 to 1861.
  1 title at OCPL
• Will Blythe Biography · Chapel Hill Grew up in Chapel Hill; his To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever chronicles Carolina basketball, family loyalty, and the Duke rivalry.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Melissa Bourbon Mystery · Hillsborough Bestselling mystery writer under her own name and two pen names, Winnie Archer for the Bread Shop Mysteries and Ivy Cassidy; she serves on the Friends board.
  18 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Krista Bremer Memoir · Carrboro Memoirist of My Accidental Jihad; longtime associate publisher of The Sun magazine.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Sue Ellen Bridgers Children's books · Chapel Hill North Carolina young adult novelist on the Literary Map's county roster; her All Together Now and Notes for Another Life were National Book Award finalists.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Bruce Brooks Children's books · Chapel Hill Young adult novelist and UNC graduate whose The Moves Make the Man and What Hearts each earned a Newbery Honor.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• David Brown Chapel Hill A contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Nic Brown Memoir · Chapel Hill Novelist of Doubles, set in this county, and In Every Way; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• W. Fitzhugh Brundage History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian whose books examine race, violence, and public memory in the South, including Lynching in the New South and The Southern Past.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Frank Bruni Memoir · Chapel Hill New York Times columnist turned Duke professor who lives in Chapel Hill; his bestselling books include Born Round and The Age of Grievance.
  6 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Jay Bryan Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet laureate from 2010 to 2013.
  Not in the OCPL catalog Website ↗
• Samantha Bryant Humour · Hillsborough Writes the Menopausal Superheroes series, beginning with Going Through the Change. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Libby Buck Fiction · Chapel Hill Art historian with a UNC doctorate who taught at Duke and Carolina before turning to fiction.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Carla Buckley Thrillers · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill suspense novelist whose books include The Things That Keep Us Here, The Deepest Secret, and The Good Goodbye.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Emily Buehler Fiction Author whose work spans bread science, a cross-country bike trip, and romance. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Anthony Burgess 1917–1993 Science fiction · Chapel Hill The A Clockwork Orange novelist spent 1969 as a writer in residence at UNC.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Thomas Burke c. 1747–1783 Poetry · Hillsborough Irish-born poet and Revolutionary governor of North Carolina, writing from Hillsborough, where Tory raiders kidnapped him in 1781.
  1 title at OCPL
• Olive Ann Burns 1924–1990 Historical fiction · Chapel Hill UNC journalism graduate and author of Cold Sassy Tree, the bestselling novel of family and small-town Southern life published when she was sixty.
  1 title at OCPL
• Bob Burtman Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Investigative journalist and a founder of Hillsborough's community radio station WHUP; a 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Candace Q. Butler Poetry Spoken word poet whose Rise Above It outreach carries inspirational poetry into the community.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Anthony Buttitta Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill With Milton Abernethy, edited Contempo from Chapel Hill, publishing Faulkner and Langston Hughes; his memoirs recall Fitzgerald and the thirties literary scene.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• C
• Joseph Caldwell 1773–1835 Humour · Chapel Hill UNC's first president and author of The Numbers of Carlton, essays urging the state toward schools and railroads.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet of Rocket Fantastic and The New Economy; the Walker Percy Fellow in Poetry at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Annie Sutton Cameron History & archives · Hillsborough Her Hillsborough and the Regulators told the town's Regulator years for its readers of 1964.
  1 title at OCPL
• Thomas J. Campanella History & archives · Chapel Hill Urban historian who taught city planning at UNC; his books include Brooklyn: The Once and Future City and Republic of Shade. A 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Clay Carmichael Children's books · Chapel Hill Writer and illustrator of children's books whose pictures tell stories all their own.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Sheri Castle Food · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill food writer, host of PBS's Emmy-winning The Key Ingredient, and author of The New Southern Garden Cookbook; the Southern Foodways Alliance gave her its 2024 Keeper of the Flame Award and named her a Living Legend of Southern Food.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Hope Summerell Chamberlain Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill Her Old Days in Chapel Hill preserved the village's nineteenth-century life as its residents remembered it.
  1 title at OCPL
• Art Chansky Biography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill sportswriter whose books on Carolina basketball include Light Blue Reign, Blue Blood, and Game Changers, the story of Dean Smith, Charlie Scott, and integration at UNC.
  5 titles at OCPL
• Michael Chitwood Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill poet and essayist whose collections include Salt Works, Gospel Road Going, and From Whence; he taught for many years at UNC.
  1 title at OCPL
• Barbara Claypole White Romance Bestselling novelist whose books include The Promise Between Us and Echoes of Family.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Albert Coates 1896–1989 Scholarship · Chapel Hill Founded UNC's Institute of Government and wrote its story in What the University of North Carolina Meant to Me.
  1 title at OCPL
• Oscar J. Coffin 1887–1956 Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Ran UNC's journalism instruction for three decades as its famously gruff dean, shaping the reporters this directory is full of.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Wim Coleman Children's books · Carrboro With Pat Perrin, formed a husband-and-wife writing team responsible for dozens of books for young readers and adults.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• William Conescu Humour · Chapel Hill Novelist of Being Written and Kara Was Here, the latter on the Literary Map's list of books set in this county.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Nancy Kenney Connolly Poetry · Carrboro Poet whose collections include I Take This World.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• R. D. W. Connor 1878–1950 Biography · Chapel Hill UNC historian who became the first Archivist of the United States.
  8 titles at OCPL
• Tressie McMillan Cottom Memoir · Chapel Hill UNC professor, MacArthur Fellow, and National Book Award finalist for the essay collection Thick.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Mildred "Mama Dip" Council 1929–2018 Fiction · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill restaurateur whose Mama Dip's Kitchen and Mama Dip's Family Cookbook preserve the recipes, stories, and food traditions behind one of the town's best-known institutions.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Hal Crowther Biography · Hillsborough Essayist on culture, politics, and the South; twice a Pushcart Prize winner, formerly of Time and Newsweek.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Paul Cuadros Biography · Chapel Hill UNC professor whose A Home on the Field follows the champion Latino soccer team he helped found in Siler City; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Laine Cunningham Fiction Novelist whose work draws on six months traveling alone through the Australian Outback; read at the Friends' 2018 book fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Moses Ashley Curtis 1808–1872 Scholarship · Hillsborough Rector of St. Matthew's and the nation's leading mycologist of his day, whose botanical writings catalogued thousands of species; buried in Hillsborough.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• D
• Jennifer Daniels Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet laureate from 2022 to 2024.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Cathy N. Davidson Scholarship Scholar of learning and technology who taught at Duke for decades; her books include Now You See It and The New Education.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Barbara Davis Historical fiction North Carolina novelist of Southern family secrets whose books include The Secrets She Carried; she spoke at a Friends-sponsored author talk the year it debuted.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Thadious M. Davis History & archives · Chapel Hill Literary scholar and biographer of Nella Larsen; in 1979 she and Trudier Harris became the first Black women to join UNC's English faculty.
  2 titles at OCPL
• William Davis Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet laureate from 2016 to 2018.
  Not in the OCPL catalog Website ↗
• Tyree Daye Poetry · Chapel Hill Whiting Award-winning poet of Cardinal; teaches in UNC's creative writing program.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Jeffery Deaver Mystery · Chapel Hill Bestselling thriller writer of the Lincoln Rhyme novels, beginning with The Bone Collector; he makes his home in Chapel Hill.
  44 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Jamie DeMent Cookbooks · Hillsborough Farmer at Hillsborough's Coon Rock Farm and author of The Farmhouse Chef, published by UNC Press.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Stephen Demorest Memoir · Hillsborough Emmy-winning daytime television writer who, with his wife Nancy Curlee Demorest, brought a lost UNC basketball legend back into print in Larry Miller Time (2020), launched at Purple Crow Books.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Tracy Deonn Young adult · Chapel Hill New York Times bestselling fantasy author whose Legendborn cycle is set on the UNC campus, where she earned two degrees.
  6 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Sarah Dessen Young adult · Chapel Hill Bestselling author of fourteen young adult novels including Along for the Ride and Saint Anything.
  20 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Abigail DeWitt Fiction · Chapel Hill Grew up in Chapel Hill; her novels include News of Our Loved Ones, drawn from her French family's wartime history.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Edward Di Gangi Memoir His memoir The Gift Best Given traces the search, begun at age sixty-nine, for the birth mother he never knew.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Annie Dillard Memoir · Hillsborough Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek; she divides her time between Hillsborough and Virginia.
  7 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Florence Dore Fiction · Chapel Hill UNC English professor and rock musician whose Novel Sounds traces rock and roll through Southern fiction.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Max Dowdle Arts & music · Hillsborough Muralist and director of NC Public Art whose graphic novel Shattered With Curve of Horn (2014) began as a webcomic; he gave a children's reading at the Friends' 2019 Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Morrow Dowdle Graphic novels · Hillsborough Poet exploring family, culture, and history; the chapbook Nature v. Nurture debuted at the Hillsborough book fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Carlina Duan Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet of Alien Miss; teaches in UNC's creative writing program.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Cathy East Dubowski Children's books · Chapel Hill With Mark Dubowski, author of scores of children's books, from early readers to film tie-ins.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Mark Dubowski Children & young adult · Chapel Hill With Cathy East Dubowski, author of scores of children's books, from early readers to film tie-ins.
  1 title at OCPL
• Dori Ann Dupré Fiction Novelist whose debut Scout's Honor raises the kinds of questions the MeToo movement soon brought to national attention.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Pam Durban Short stories · Chapel Hill Whiting Award-winning fiction writer and UNC's Doris Betts Distinguished Professor emerita; her books include The Laughing Place and So Far Back.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Woody Durham 1941–2018 Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill The Voice of the Tar Heels for forty years; his memoir recounts the games from courtside.
  1 title at OCPL
• Kathleen DuVal Biography · Chapel Hill UNC historian whose Native Nations won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for History.
  2 titles at OCPL
• E
• Charles Edward Eaton 1916–2006 Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet who taught creative writing at UNC and lived long on Greenwood Road; a recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Dale Edwards Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Managing editor of the News of Orange County and the Mebane Enterprise, the weeklies covering Hillsborough and Mebane; joined Steven Petrow in conversation at his 2025 Arts Commission reading.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Elizabeth Edwards 1949–2010 Biography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill author of the bestselling memoirs Saving Graces and Resilience.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• John Ehle 1925–2018 Fiction · Chapel Hill His The Free Men is a firsthand chronicle of the Chapel Hill civil rights demonstrations, written while on the UNC faculty. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1997.
  5 titles at OCPL
• Elon G. Eidenier Poetry · Hillsborough Poet; a contributor to 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Erica Eisdorfer Historical fiction · Carrboro Ran UNC's Bull's Head Bookshop for decades and wrote the novel The Wet Nurse's Tale.
  1 title at OCPL
• Henry Small Ellenwood Poetry · Hillsborough 1820s satirist and man of letters who wrote as Dr. Barnabus Bolus.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Richard Ellington History & archives · Carrboro Co-author of Carrboro in the Images of America series. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  1 title at OCPL
• Elizabeth Emerson Memoir · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill writer whose Letters from Red Farm tells the story of Helen Keller's friendship with her great-great-grandfather; Flyleaf keeps signed copies.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• J. S. Emuakpor Fantasy Science fiction and fantasy author who read at the Friends' 2019 Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Mary Claire Engstrom 1906–1997 History & archives · Hillsborough The Hillsborough historian of her generation, who with her husband bought and preserved the Nash-Hooper House; her research papers are at UNC.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Alex Evanovich Children's books · Hillsborough Co-author of bestsellers with her mother Janet, and teacher of the library's 2025 teen writing workshop.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Janet Evanovich Mystery · Chapel Hill Creator of the bestselling Stephanie Plum mystery series; she headlined the Friends' Evening with the Author in 2025.
  138 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• F
• Elisa Faison Fiction · Carrboro Carrboro novelist and former Flyleaf bookseller whose debut, Skin Contact, grew from a short story she began while completing her doctorate at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Melissa Faliveno Memoir · Chapel Hill Essayist whose debut collection Tomboyland explores gender, class, and the Midwest.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Melora Fern Historical fiction · Hillsborough Turned a lifetime of making up stories into fiction; her debut novel Whistling Women and Crowing Hens (Sybilline Press) is on the library shelf, and she leads the library's writing workshop series. She serves on the Friends of the Library board.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Marcie Cohen Ferris Cookbooks · Chapel Hill UNC American studies professor emerita whose The Edible South put the region's food history on the scholarly table.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• William Ferris Photography · Chapel Hill Folklorist, photographer, and former UNC history professor whose books, recordings, and films preserve the American South; his Voices of Mississippi box set won two Grammy Awards.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Art Fettig 1929–2021 Hillsborough Speaker, author, and Friends member who entertained at the library's 2012 summer programs.
  1 title at OCPL Profile ↗
• Peter Filene Biography · Chapel Hill UNC historian and novelist; his books include Him/Her/Self and the novel Little Fingers.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Shannon Fitzgerald Children & young adult · Hillsborough Hillsborough teacher whose picture books help children name their feelings; she read Halloween Night at the library's 2015 Halloween celebration.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Shelby Foote 1916–2005 History & archives · Chapel Hill His three-volume The Civil War: A Narrative made him the war's great narrator; as a UNC student in the 1930s he read his way through Wilson Library and published in Carolina Magazine.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Ben Fountain Thrillers · Chapel Hill Born in Chapel Hill and educated at UNC; Brief Encounters with Che Guevara won the PEN/Hemingway Award and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk the National Book Critics Circle Award.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Terrence Foushee Poetry Poet of Black Mama Advice, writing from the county's own communities.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Barbara L. Fredrickson Scholarship · Carrboro UNC psychologist of positive emotions; author of Positivity and Love 2.0.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Edwin Wiley Fuller 1847–1876 Fiction · Chapel Hill His Sea-Gift of 1873 was the first novel to make UNC student life its subject.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• G
• Nora Gaskin Mystery · Chapel Hill Suspense novelist whose Time of Death is on the Literary Map's list of books set in this county.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Peg Gignoux Arts & music · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill textile artist and illustrator who created Planting Hope with Susie Wilde.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Cortland Gilliam Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill's second poet laureate, serving 2023 to 2024.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Marianne Gingher Poetry · Chapel Hill Novelist of Bobby Rex's Greatest Hit; taught in UNC's creative writing program for decades.
  5 titles at OCPL
• Joseph T. Glatthaar History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC military historian whose General Lee's Army follows the Army of Northern Virginia from the ranks up.
  1 title at OCPL
• Gloria Glenn Children & young adult Children's author whose chapter book Caretta the Top Turtle was a repeat favorite at Friends book sale readings.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Tate Godwin Children's books Children's author who led a kids' talk and workshop at the library in 2025.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Laurel Goldman Fiction · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill novelist of Sounding the Territory whose private workshops trained a generation of area writers.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Nancy Goodwin Memoir & essays · Hillsborough Created the celebrated gardens at Montrose in Hillsborough and wrote them into Montrose: Life in a Garden and A Year in Our Gardens.
  1 title at OCPL
• Brooks Graebner History & archives · Hillsborough Longtime rector of Hillsborough's St. Matthew's and historian of the Episcopal church in North Carolina; a 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Alex Grant Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill poet whose collections include Fear of Moving Water.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Susan Gravely Cookbooks · Chapel Hill Founder of the tableware company Vietri, whose memoir-cookbook Italy on a Plate (2023) ends at her own Chapel Hill table; also Italy in a Glass and the Old St. Nick picture books.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Louis Graves 1883–1965 Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC's first journalism professor and founding editor of the Chapel Hill Weekly, the paper where Jeff MacNelly later began his career.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Ralph Henry Graves 1878–1939 Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill journalist of a newspaper family who edited for the New York Times.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Jaki Shelton Green Poetry · Efland Ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the first African American in the role; teaches documentary poetry at Duke. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2014.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Paul Green 1894–1981 Scholarship · Chapel Hill Won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and taught and wrote in Chapel Hill for decades. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Stephanie Greene Children's books · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill author of roughly twenty children's books, including the Owen Foote and Sophie Hartley series.
  7 titles at OCPL
• Edwin Greenlaw 1874–1931 Scholarship · Chapel Hill Built UNC's English department in the 1910s and twenties; Thomas Wolfe counted him among his formative teachers.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Stephanie Elizondo Griest Fiction · Chapel Hill Travel memoirist of Around the Bloc and All the Agents and Saints; teaches creative nonfiction at UNC.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Clay Griffith Fiction With Susan Griffith, co-author of the Vampire Empire fantasy trilogy.
  1 title at OCPL
• Susan Griffith Fantasy With Clay Griffith, co-author of the Vampire Empire fantasy trilogy.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Allan Gurganus Southern fiction · Chapel Hill Author of the bestselling Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and White People; his honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Sue Kaufman Prize. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2010.
  8 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Michael Keenan Gutierrez Historical fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of The Trench Angel; teaches writing at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Minrose Gwin Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist, memoirist, and former UNC professor whose books include The Queen of Palmyra, Promise, The Accidentals, and Wishing for Snow.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• H
• Nortin Hadler Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC physician whose Worried Sick and The Last Well Person question what medicine oversells.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Nancy Learned Haines Biography · Hillsborough Historian of Hillsborough's early Quaker settlers, tracing the families who migrated from Pennsylvania in the 1750s.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Jacquelyn Dowd Hall History & archives · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill historian and founding director of UNC's Southern Oral History Program; author of Revolt Against Chivalry and co-author of Like a Family, and a National Humanities Medal recipient.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• David J. Halperin Fiction · Chapel Hill UNC professor emeritus of religious studies; his books span the novel Journal of a UFO Investigator and the study Intimate Alien.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Melissa Hardy Fiction · Chapel Hill Fiction writer whose stories have appeared in The Atlantic and Best American Short Stories.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Trudier Harris Memoir · Chapel Hill Scholar and author of more than twenty books on African American literature and folklore; in 1979 she and Thadious Davis became the first Black women to join UNC's English faculty.
  1 title at OCPL
• Jeremy Hawkins Humour · Carrboro His novel The Last Days of Video is on the Literary Map's list of books set in this county.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Lori Hayes Romance Writes small-town women's fiction and coastal romance, including the Crystal Coast series; presented at the library in 2023.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Dennis Heartt 1783–1870 Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Published the Hillsborough Recorder for nearly fifty years, the first newspaper west of Raleigh, and organized the Hillsborough Literary Association in 1842.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Elizabeth Hein Fiction Novelist of Overlook and How to Climb the Eiffel Tower; read at the Friends' 2018 book fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Archibald Henderson 1877–1963 History & archives · Chapel Hill Fifty years on the UNC faculty, George Bernard Shaw's authorized biographer, and author of The Conquest of the Old Southwest; he died at Fordell, his Chapel Hill home.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Barbara Bynum Henderson Poetry · Hillsborough Poet and translator honored on the Orange County Courthouse mural.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• William McCranor Henderson Historical fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of Stark Raving Elvis and I Killed Hemingway; taught fiction at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Caroline Lee Hentz 1800–1856 Southern fiction · Chapel Hill Antebellum bestseller and rival to Harriet Beecher Stowe; wrote in Chapel Hill in the late 1820s.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Bernard L. Herman 1951–2025 Food · Chapel Hill UNC professor of American studies whose A South You Never Ate gathered the foodways of the Eastern Shore.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Patrick Herron Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet laureate from 2003 to 2005 and founder of the West End Poetry Festival.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• J. G. Hetherton Thrillers Durham mystery writer of Last Girl Gone (2018) and What Lies Beneath (2022); read at the Friends' 2019 Book Fair "Noir at the Bar" evening at Yonder.
  6 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Glenn Hinson Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC folklorist whose Fire in My Bones listens inside African American gospel.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Fred Hobson Memoir · Chapel Hill UNC scholar and author whose books on Southern literature and identity include Mencken: A Life, Serpent in Eden, and But Now I See.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Judy Hogan 1937–2024 Fiction · Chapel Hill Founded Carolina Wren Press, the press later led by Andrea Selch; poet, teacher, and mystery novelist.
  1 title at OCPL
• William Woods Holden 1818–1892 Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Born near Hillsborough and apprenticed to Dennis Heartt at the Recorder before becoming the state's most influential newspaper editor and, later, its governor.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Culley Holderfield Fiction · Cedar Grove His debut Hemlock Hollow (Regal House, 2022), a Blue Ridge story that won the Eric Hoffer Award for historical fiction; he lives in Cedar Grove beside Duke Forest.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• C. Hugh Holman 1914–1981 Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC literary scholar whose A Handbook to Literature sat on a half century of student desks; a founder of the Southern Literary Journal.
  1 title at OCPL
• George Moses Horton c. 1798–1883 Poetry · Chapel Hill Composed and sold poems on the UNC campus while enslaved, becoming the first Black Southerner to publish a book of poetry; a North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee.
  1 title at OCPL
• Noel Houston 1909–1958 Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist and playwright of The Great Promise; buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Janet Howle Fiction Her novel Uncharted draws on years of sailing the Bahamas and a shady chapter of the islands' history.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Hatcher Hughes 1881–1945 Fiction · Chapel Hill UNC graduate whose Hell-Bent fer Heaven won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, giving Chapel Hill training a second drama Pulitzer alongside Paul Green's.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Kermit Hunter 1910–2001 Drama · Chapel Hill Wrote the outdoor dramas Unto These Hills and Horn in the West from a UNC doctorate under Paul Green.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Herman Husband 1724–1795 History & archives · Hillsborough Regulator pamphleteer whose tracts argued the backcountry's case before the Revolution; he farmed ten thousand Sandy Creek acres and served as an Orange County assemblyman.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• I
• Jan Irwin Fiction · Hillsborough Hillsborough writer whose debut novel Finding Your Place launched with a Friends fundraiser at the Burwell School in 2025. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• J
• Barry Jacobs Biography · Hillsborough Hillsborough sportswriter of five ACC books including Across the Line, on the league's first Black players; he also served twenty years as an Orange County commissioner.
  4 titles at OCPL
• Gerald W. Johnson 1890–1980 Biography · Chapel Hill UNC journalism professor turned Baltimore essayist, author of some thirty books. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Guion Griffis Johnson 1900–1989 History & archives · Chapel Hill Historian whose Ante-Bellum North Carolina: A Social History remains a standard account of everyday life in the state.
  1 title at OCPL
• Guy B. Johnson 1901–1991 Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC sociologist and folklorist; his John Henry: Tracking Down a Negro Legend pursued the ballad to its sources.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Fred Joiner Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet laureate from 2019 to 2022 and a 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Adam W. Jones Picture books Author of the Cecil the Littlest Ant series for young readers.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• H. G. Jones 1924–2018 Photography · Chapel Hill North Carolina historian, archivist, and longtime curator of UNC's North Carolina Collection; his books include For History's Sake, North Carolina Illustrated, and Miss Mary's Money, the story of Mary Ruffin Smith.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Paul Jones Poetry · Chapel Hill UNC professor, poet, and founder of the ibiblio digital library; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not in the OCPL catalog Website ↗
• Allegra Jordan Historical fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of The End of Innocence.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• K
• Amal Kassir Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet laureate for 2025 to 2027; a Syrian American slam champion and author of Scud Missile Blues.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Josh Kastrinsky Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Journalist; a contributor to 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Mark Katz Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC music professor whose Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy grew from leading a State Department program.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Harry Kavros Essays · Hillsborough Author and former president of the Friends' own board; he and Peregrine Kavros have hosted the Friends garden party at Hyacinth Farm.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Elizabeth Keckly 1818–1907 Biography · Hillsborough Enslaved in Hillsborough as a young woman; later Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker and author of the White House memoir Behind the Scenes.
  2 titles at OCPL Profile ↗
• Diane Kelly Mystery · Hillsborough Former tax advisor whose comic mystery series include Death and Taxes, Paw Enforcement, and House Flipper; a winner of Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award. She serves on the Friends of the Library board, which she led as president from 2023 to 2025.
  11 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Randall Kenan 1963–2020 Essays · Hillsborough Whiting Award-winning chronicler of Black North Carolina life who taught at UNC and made his home in Hillsborough. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2018.
  6 titles at OCPL
• Barbara Kenyon Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet laureate from 2012 to 2014.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Sue Monk Kidd Historical fiction · Chapel Hill Bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings; she makes her home in Chapel Hill.
  18 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Carolyn Kizer 1925–2014 Poetry · Chapel Hill Pulitzer Prize-winning poet of Yin who served as poet in residence at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Keith Knight Children's books · Carrboro Carrboro cartoonist of The K Chronicles and The Knight Life, and co-creator of the television series Woke.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Frederick H. "Proff" Koch 1877–1944 Drama · Chapel Hill Founded the Carolina Playmakers at UNC in 1918 and taught Thomas Wolfe, Paul Green, Betty Smith, and Josefina Niggli their stagecraft.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Nathan Kotecki Young adult Author of the young adult novels The Suburban Strange and Pull Down the Night.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Charles Kuralt 1934–1997 Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill The Emmy-winning voice of CBS's On the Road; UNC class of 1955 and Daily Tar Heel editor, he is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery.
  2 titles at OCPL
• L
• Allen Lacy 1935–2015 Memoir & essays Garden essayist whose books include Home Ground and The Garden in Autumn.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Jock Lauterer Photography · Chapel Hill Journalist, photographer, and UNC teacher whose books include Community Journalism, Only in Chapel Hill, and Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey Now.
  1 title at OCPL
• Howard N. Lee Biography · Chapel Hill Former Chapel Hill mayor and North Carolina public servant whose memoir, The Courage to Lead, recounts his journey through the Jim Crow South and a career spent breaking political and educational barriers.
  1 title at OCPL
• Hugh Talmage Lefler 1901–1981 Biography · Chapel Hill Author of the standard state history taught to generations of North Carolinians, and co-author of Orange County, 1752-1952.
  7 titles at OCPL
• James L. Leloudis History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian and co-author of Like a Family and Fragile Democracy.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Jared Lemus Short stories · Chapel Hill Author of the story collection Guatemalan Rhapsody; teaches fiction at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• William E. Leuchtenburg 1922–2025 Biography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill presidential historian and longtime UNC professor; his Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal won the Bancroft Prize, and his later books include The American President.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Anna Linvill Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Former Arabic linguist who wrote on Libya for Newsweek International; rooted in Hillsborough and working in Duke's diplomacy program.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Donovan Livingston Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill poet laureate for 2025 and 2026, whose Harvard convocation address became the book Lift Off.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Zelda Lockhart Fiction · Hillsborough Novelist of Fifth Born and Cold Running Creek; served as the 2010 Piedmont Laureate.
  9 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Kate Lovelady Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro's first poet laureate, serving from 2002 to 2003.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Adam Lucas Biography · Chapel Hill Chronicler of Carolina athletics whose books include Carolina Basketball: A Century of Excellence.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• M
• Jeff MacNelly 1947–2000 Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who began his career at the Chapel Hill Weekly and later created the nationally syndicated comic strip Shoe.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Jodi Magness History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC archaeologist of the Holy Land whose books include Masada and Jerusalem Through the Ages.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Tom Magnuson History & archives · Hillsborough Founder of the Trading Path Association, documenting the old roads and river crossings of the Carolina backcountry; a 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Michael Malone 1942–2022 Mystery · Hillsborough Author of ten novels including Handling Sin; his honors include an Edgar Award, an O. Henry Award, and an Emmy.
  15 titles at OCPL Profile ↗
• Doug Marlette 1949–2007 Comics · Hillsborough Creator of the comic strip Kudzu and winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning; his novel The Bridge was written from his Hillsborough years.
  9 titles at OCPL
• D. G. Martin 1940–2025 Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill host of North Carolina Bookwatch for two decades and author of the One on One columns. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2026.
  1 title at OCPL
• Elizabeth Matheson Photography · Hillsborough Hillsborough-born photographer whose books include Blithe Air and the award-winning Hidden Hillsborough; her prints are held by the North Carolina Museum of Art, Duke, and the Ackland. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Charity Curley Mathews Cookbooks · Hillsborough Founder of Foodlets and author of four Rockridge Press cookbooks for young cooks, from Super Simple Baking for Kids to Pizza School and the Cupcake Cookbook for Kids.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• James Maxey Fantasy · Hillsborough Writes science fiction and fantasy, from the Bitterwood dragon novels to superhero capers; served as the 2015 Piedmont Laureate.
  11 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Frances Mayes Memoir · Hillsborough Author of the bestselling Under the Tuscan Sun and, closer to home, A Place in the World.
  25 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Anna Jean Mayhew Historical fiction · Hillsborough Her debut The Dry Grass of August won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award and has been translated into seven languages. A longtime member of the Friends of the Library.
  5 titles at OCPL
• Jill McCorkle Short stories · Chapel Hill Novelist and short story writer whose bestselling books include Life After Life and Hieroglyphics. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2018.
  25 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Nancie McDermott Food · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill food writer of fourteen cookbooks, including Southern Pies and Southern Cakes.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Gillian McDunn Children's books North Carolina author of middle grade novels including Caterpillar Summer and When Sea Becomes Sky.
  6 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Michael McFee Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet of a dozen collections, including Shinemaster and We Were Once Here; taught in UNC's creative writing program for more than three decades. A recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature.
  1 title at OCPL
• April McGreger Cookbooks · Hillsborough Hillsborough founder of Farmer's Daughter preserves and author of Sweet Potatoes in UNC Press's Savor the South series.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Will McInerney Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet and audio journalist; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Laurie McKay Children's books Children's fantasy author who joined the 2015 local writers panel ahead of National Novel Writing Month.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Brenda Chambers McKean History & archives Author of Blood and War at My Doorstep, on the experiences of North Carolina women and civilians during the Civil War.
  1 title at OCPL
• Tim McLaurin 1953–2002 Fiction · Hillsborough Novelist and memoirist whose Keeper of the Moon recalls a hard North Carolina boyhood.
  1 title at OCPL
• Neal McTighe Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet laureate from 2005 to 2010.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Deborah Fletcher Mello Romance Novelist whose Friends-sponsored author talk closed out the June 2013 event season.
  1 title at OCPL
• Alissa C. Miles Fiction · Hillsborough Author of Mad Moon and founder of the Hillsborough Writers group.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Elisha Mitchell 1793–1857 Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill UNC scientist ordained at Hillsborough by the Presbytery of Orange; his geological tour diaries are foundational North Carolina nature writing, and the state's highest peak bears his name.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Linda Foster Momsen Memoir & essays United Methodist pastor whose memoir What I Didn't Know Then traces a woman's path to the pulpit through the 1970s.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Rosetta Austin Moore History & archives Author of The Impact of Slavery on the Education of Blacks in Orange County, North Carolina; read at the 2016 spring book sale.
  1 title at OCPL
• Ruth Moose Poetry · Chapel Hill Taught in UNC's creative writing program for fifteen years; her Dixie Dew mysteries begin with Doing It at the Dixie Dew.
  1 title at OCPL
• Eric L. Muller Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC law professor whose American Inquisition and Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe examine the Japanese American incarceration.
  1 title at OCPL
• Archibald DeBow Murphey 1777–1832 Biography · Hillsborough Hillsborough lawyer remembered as the father of North Carolina's public schools; wrote his foundational reports and addresses from here.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• N
• Francis Nash History & archives · Hillsborough Hillsborough attorney and historian; his 1903 Historic Hillsboro is still an important early history of the town.
  4 titles at OCPL
• Lawrence Naumoff Fiction · Carrboro Whiting Award-winning novelist of Silk Hope, NC and Night of the Weeping Women; taught creative writing at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Bill Neal 1950–1991 History & archives · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill chef and food writer whose Bill Neal's Southern Cooking and Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie helped bring the history and traditions of Southern cooking to a national audience.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Moreton Neal Cookbooks · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill chef and author of Remembering Bill Neal, preserving the recipes, career, and influence of the Southern food writer and restaurateur with whom she founded La Résidence.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Gene R. Nichol Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC law professor whose books confront poverty in North Carolina, including The Faces of Poverty.
  4 titles at OCPL
• Josefina Niggli 1910–1983 Fiction · Chapel Hill Came to UNC to study playwriting under Koch and Green; her Mexican Village was among the first Mexican American literary works to reach a national audience.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Craig Nova Thrillers Guggenheim Fellow and author of novels including The Good Son.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• O
• Elaine O’Neil Children's books · Hillsborough Hillsborough textile collage artist whose stitched scenes illustrate children's books including Goodnight Carolina and Road Trip Carolina.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• M. Randal O'Wain Short stories · Chapel Hill Essayist of Meander Belt; teaches creative nonfiction at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Howard W. Odum 1884–1954 Fiction · Chapel Hill Kenan Professor for thirty-four years, founder of the journal Social Forces, and author of Southern Regions of the United States and the Black Ulysses novels.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• P
• Lee Pace Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Chronicler of Tar Heel football and Carolina golf whose books include Sanford Stadium sidelines and the courses of Pinehurst.
  10 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Natasha Paredes Arts & music · Hillsborough Hillsborough spoken word artist with Dominican and South African roots.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Freddie L. Parker History & archives · Hillsborough Historian of North Carolina slavery; his Running for Freedom and Stealing a Little Freedom document the people who fled it.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Karen L. Parker Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill The first Black woman to earn a UNC undergraduate degree; her 1960s diary of the Chapel Hill sit-ins is a landmark civil rights document, and she spent a career at North Carolina newspapers.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Daniel W. Patterson Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC folklorist of The Shaker Spiritual and the ballad singers of the Carolina mountains.
  3 titles at OCPL
• David Payne Romance · Hillsborough New York Times Notable author of five novels and the memoir Barefoot to Avalon.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Nancy Peacock Historical fiction · Hillsborough Hillsborough novelist whose debut Life Without Water was a New York Times Notable Book; served as the 2018 Piedmont Laureate.
  5 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Joanna Pearson Fiction · Chapel Hill Fiction writer and psychiatrist; her story collection Now You Know It All won the Drue Heinz Prize.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Walker Percy 1916–1990 Coming of age · Chapel Hill Studied at UNC before The Moviegoer won the National Book Award.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Pat Perrin Children & young adult · Carrboro With Wim Coleman, formed a husband-and-wife writing team responsible for dozens of books for young readers and adults.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Steven Petrow Fiction · Hillsborough Journalist and essayist on aging, health, and civility for the Washington Post and New York Times; served as the 2024 Piedmont Laureate. A member of the Friends of the Library.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Gary Phillips Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet laureate from 2016 to 2019.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Orrin Pilkey Scholarship · Hillsborough Duke coastal geologist and author of many books on barrier islands and shoreline retreat, including The Beaches Are Moving.
  1 title at OCPL
• Matt Poindexter Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough poet whose debut chapbook Fatherland (Unicorn Press, 2025) turns fatherhood, family, and his native North Carolina into verse.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Barry Popkin Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC nutrition scientist whose The World Is Fat traced the global rise of obesity.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• William S. Powell 1919–2015 Photography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill historian whose reference works, including North Carolina Through Four Centuries, the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, and the Encyclopedia of North Carolina, helped define how the state documents its past. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2008.
  16 titles at OCPL
• Minnie Bruce Pratt 1946–2023 Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet, essayist, and activist whose years at UNC and in Chapel Hill's feminist and lesbian communities shaped books including Crime Against Nature, a Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Max Preston Hillsborough A contributor to 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Adam O'Fallon Price Mystery · Chapel Hill Novelist of The Hotel Neversink and The Grand Tour; teaches fiction at UNC.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• William Meade Prince 1893–1951 Biography · Chapel Hill Illustrator and memoirist whose The Southern Part of Heaven gave Chapel Hill its nickname.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Mitchell Prinstein Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC psychologist and author of Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Eryk Pruitt Thrillers · Hillsborough Crime novelist, screenwriter, and co-creator of the true crime podcast The Long Dance; his novels include Something Bad Wrong.
  8 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Katie Rose Guest Pryal Essays · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill novelist and essayist whose books include the Hollywood Lights series and A Light in the Tower.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Q
• Maureen Quilligan Scholarship · Hillsborough Renaissance scholar who taught at Duke; her books include The Allegory of Female Authority.
  1 title at OCPL
• R
• Tom Rankin Essays Photographer, filmmaker, and folklorist whose books include Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Shannon Ravenel Fiction · Chapel Hill Co-founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and longtime editor of New Stories from the South and The Best American Short Stories; a 2026 inductee of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• John Shelton Reed Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill Essayist and former UNC sociologist whose many books explore Southern culture and identity, including The Enduring South, Holy Smoke, and On Barbecue.
  4 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Jessie Rehder 1908–1967 Fiction · Chapel Hill Ran UNC's creative writing program when few women anywhere led one; author of The Young Writer at Chapel Hill.
  1 title at OCPL
• Holly Reid Hillsborough A contributor to 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Andrea Reusing Food · Chapel Hill Chef of Chapel Hill's Lantern and a James Beard Award winner; her cookbook Cooking in the Moment follows a year of eating locally.
  1 title at OCPL
• Mary Rocap Memoir · Cedar Grove Cedar Grove singer and songwriter with five albums of mostly original songs and an NC Arts Council songwriting fellowship.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• John Rosenthal Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill photographer and longtime Sun essayist; his After: The Silence of the Lower 9th Ward pictures New Orleans three years on.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Vermont C. Royster 1914–1996 Memoir · Chapel Hill Won two Pulitzer Prizes as editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, then came home to teach journalism at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Gibbons Ruark Poetry · Chapel Hill UNC-educated poet of Rescue the Perishing and Passing Through Customs.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Robert Ruark 1915–1965 Coming of age · Chapel Hill Columnist and novelist of The Old Man and the Boy, who enrolled at UNC at fifteen; his papers are in the Southern Historical Collection. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2000.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Louis D. Rubin Jr. 1923–2013 Biography · Chapel Hill UNC English professor who founded Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 1983 with Shannon Ravenel; a recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1997.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• John Russell 1954–2021 Fiction · Chapel Hill Corporate lawyer whose novels Favorite Sons and All the Right Circles turn an insider's eye on North Carolina politics. A Chapel Hill resident who edited the Daily Tar Heel at UNC; his literary papers are held at Wilson Library.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• LD Russell Scholarship Taught religion and popular culture at Elon University; his Godspeed: Racing Is My Religion explores stock car racing as religious experience.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Phillips Russell 1884–1974 History & archives · Chapel Hill Founded UNC's creative writing instruction in 1931 and taught it for twenty-five years; biographer of Franklin and Emerson, and a recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature.
  2 titles at OCPL
• S
• Sy Safransky Memoir & essays · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill essayist and founder of The Sun, the independent literary magazine he began locally in 1974 and guided for nearly five decades.
  1 title at OCPL
• Roger Sauls Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet whose collections include Light and The Hierarchies of Rue.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• April Scales Memoir Wrote four books during three decades of incarceration, including Fenced In Fighting for Freedom; she presented at the library in 2025.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Beverly Scarlett History & archives · Hillsborough Retired district court judge who writes on the county's Indigenous and African American heritage; a 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  3 titles at OCPL
• George F. Scheer 1917–1996 Memoir · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill historian and publishers' representative whose Rebels and Redcoats told the Revolution through those who fought it.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Joanna Catherine Scott Fiction · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill novelist and poet whose The Road from Chapel Hill follows three lives through Civil War North Carolina.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Jim Seay 1939–2026 Memoir · Chapel Hill Poet and longtime director of UNC's creative writing program, the post later held by several writers in this directory; he died in Chapel Hill in 2026.
  1 title at OCPL
• Andrea Selch Poetry · Hillsborough Poet of Startling and Succory, and longtime president of Carolina Wren Press.
  1 title at OCPL
• Samia Serageldin Memoir · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill novelist and essayist whose The Cairo House draws on her Egyptian childhood; co-editor of the essay collection Mothers and Strangers.
  2 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Phillip Shabazz Poetry · Carrboro Poet with a long record of teaching poetry in North Carolina classrooms.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Alan Shapiro Memoir · Chapel Hill Poet of more than a dozen collections; a National Book Award finalist and longtime UNC professor.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Paula Sharp Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist on the Literary Map's county roster whose books include Crows over a Wheatfield and The Woman Who Was Not All There.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Celeste Shirecliffe Fiction Novelist whose Hidden Contempt draws on her work as a freelance video engineer; read at the Friends' 2019 Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Bland Simpson Memoir · Chapel Hill Longtime UNC creative writing professor and pianist of the Red Clay Ramblers; his books chart North Carolina's sound country, from The Great Dismal onward. A recipient of the North Carolina Award. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2020.
  10 titles at OCPL
• Betty Smith 1896–1972 Coming of age · Chapel Hill Wrote the bestselling A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from her home in Chapel Hill.
  4 titles at OCPL
• Bill Smith Cookbooks · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill chef, essayist, and author of Seasoned in the South and Crabs and Oysters, drawing on the foodways of eastern North Carolina and his twenty-five years at Crook's Corner.
  5 titles at OCPL
• Courtney Soling Smith History & archives · Hillsborough Exhibits and programs coordinator at the Orange County Historical Museum and co-author of its Working for a Living and SCORE! histories; her own books run from the Civil War novel Lies to Short Plays for Community Actors.
  1 title at OCPL
• Jay M. Smith History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian who, with Mary Willingham, wrote Cheated, the inside account of the university's athletic-academic scandal.
  1 title at OCPL
• Julia Ridley Smith Short stories · Chapel Hill Author of the memoir The Sum of Trifles; teaches in UNC's creative writing program.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Lee Smith Southern fiction · Hillsborough Bestselling author of Oral History, Fair and Tender Ladies, and On Agate Hill, which is set in 1870s Hillsborough. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2008.
  38 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Sue Soltis Children's books · Chapel Hill Children's author of Nothing Like a Puffin.
  3 titles at OCPL
• Cornelia Phillips Spencer 1825–1908 Biography · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill chronicler who famously rang the bell when the university reopened in 1875.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Elizabeth Spencer 1921–2019 Short stories · Chapel Hill Author of The Light in the Piazza and winner of the PEN/Malamud Award; lived and wrote in Chapel Hill from 1986 until her death. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2002.
  7 titles at OCPL
• George Spencer Journalism & cartooning · Hillsborough Freelance journalist and former executive editor of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine; co-author with Dr. Nathaniel Chin of When Memory Fades (St. Martin's Essentials, 2026), a guide for families facing dementia.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Lindsay Starck Fantasy · Chapel Hill Novelist of Noah's Wife and Monsters We Have Made, written during her Chapel Hill years.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Celisa Steele Poetry · Carrboro Carrboro poet whose collections include How Language Is Lost.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Max Steele 1922–2005 Southern fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist whose debut Debby won the Harper Prize; directed UNC's creative writing program for two decades. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2020.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Wilbur Daniel Steele 1886–1970 Fiction · Chapel Hill The most-honored American short story writer of the 1920s, a repeat O. Henry Prize winner who wrote from the Greenlaw House on East Franklin Street.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Leah Stewart Thrillers · Chapel Hill Novelist whose books include The Myth of You and Me and The New Neighbor.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• James Street 1903–1954 Fiction · Chapel Hill Bestselling novelist of Goodbye, My Lady and Tap Roots who spent his last years in Chapel Hill.
  1 title at OCPL
• Dee Stribling Poetry Poet of people and place, with a geographer's eye for how each shapes the other.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Carol Strickland Hillsborough Read and signed at the 2018 Hillsborough Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• CJ Suitt Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill native and director of the Sacrificial Poets; appointed the town's first poet laureate in 2019.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Patricia Sullivan Memoir & essays · Hillsborough Editor, book coach and publisher at Three Crows Press; edited Writers for Rare, thirty-two personal stories from the rare-disease community, and serves as NORD's Rare Action Network ambassador for North Carolina.
  Not in the OCPL catalog Website ↗
• John Wood Sweet History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian whose The Sewing Girl's Tale reconstructs a landmark 1793 trial.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• T
• John K. Terres 1905–2006 Scholarship · Chapel Hill Naturalist and longtime Audubon editor who wrote The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds from Chapel Hill.
  1 title at OCPL
• Tess Tessier Poetry Retired professor of philosophy and religious studies, published writer and poet, and an advocate for kids' right to read. She serves as the Friends of the Library board secretary.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Alexis Thomas Fiction Contributor to an anthology in which Colombian adoptees tell their own stories of identity and search; read at the Friends' 2019 Local Author Book Fair.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Charles D. Thompson Jr. Biography · Chapel Hill Documentary filmmaker and author whose books include Spirits of Just Men; a contributor to 27 Views of Chapel Hill.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Nancy Tilly Children's books · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill author of the young adult novel Golden Girl.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• George B. Tindall 1921–2006 History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian whose The Emergence of the New South anchored the field for decades.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• James S. Tippett 1885–1958 Poetry · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill children's poet whose I Live in a City and Crickety Cricket! set everyday life to verse for young readers, writing with Martha K. Tippett.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Tony Tost Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet of Invisible Bride and television writer whose credits include Longmire.
  1 title at OCPL
• Wells Tower Fiction · Chapel Hill Grew up in Chapel Hill and still writes from it; his story collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned won The Story Prize and made him one of The New Yorker's 20 Under 40.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• Mike Troy Poetry · Hillsborough Hillsborough's first poet laureate, serving from 2010 to 2012.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Karen Tucker Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of Bewilderness; teaches fiction at UNC.
  1 title at OCPL Website ↗
• U
• Janice May Udry 1928–2023 Children & young adult · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill children's author whose picture books include A Tree Is Nice, winner of the 1957 Caldecott Medal, and the Caldecott Honor book The Moon Jumpers.
  1 title at OCPL
• V
• John Valentine Memoir & essays · Hillsborough Bookseller and essayist, co-owner of the Regulator Bookshop; a 27 Views of Hillsborough contributor.
  Not in the OCPL catalog
• Rupert B. Vance 1899–1975 Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC sociologist whose Human Geography of the South mapped the region's people and land for a generation of scholars.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Aaron Vandemark Memoir & essays · Hillsborough Chef of Hillsborough's Panciuto; his essay appears in 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Elizabeth Gray Vining 1902–1999 Fiction · Chapel Hill Newbery Medal winner for Adam of the Road who worked as a UNC librarian and lived in Chapel Hill; her Windows for the Crown Prince recounts tutoring Japan's future emperor.
  1 title at OCPL
• Donna Vitucci Fiction Fiction writer of quiet, character-driven stories about aching hearts.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• W
• Paul W. Wager History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC professor who co-edited Orange County, 1752-1952 with Hugh Lefler, the county's bicentennial history.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Karl Edward Wagner 1945–1994 Fantasy · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill horror and fantasy writer, British Fantasy Award-winning creator of Kane, and longtime editor of The Year's Best Horror Stories.
  1 title at OCPL
• Linda Wagner-Martin Biography · Chapel Hill UNC English professor and biographer of Sylvia Plath, Gertrude Stein, and the Hemingways.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Daniel Wallace Humour · Chapel Hill Author of Big Fish, which became the Tim Burton film, and longtime director of creative writing at UNC. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2026.
  17 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Harry L. Watson Biography · Chapel Hill UNC historian of the Jacksonian South, author of Liberty and Power and founding editor of Southern Cultures.
  1 title at OCPL
• Manly Wade Wellman 1903–1986 Fiction · Chapel Hill Often called a dean of dark fantasy and a World Fantasy Award winner; his Silver John stories carried North Carolina mountain folklore into fiction, written from decades in Chapel Hill. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996.
  4 titles at OCPL
• John Welter Humour · Carrboro Comic novelist of Night of the Avenging Blowfish and I Want to Buy a Vowel.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Katharine Whalen Memoir & essays · Hillsborough Musician of the Squirrel Nut Zippers; her essay appears in 27 Views of Hillsborough.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Ross White Poetry · Chapel Hill Poet of Charm Offensive and director of Bull City Press; teaches in UNC's creative writing program.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Tom Wicker 1926–2011 Biography · Chapel Hill New York Times columnist and novelist; a UNC journalism graduate whose papers rest in the Southern Historical Collection. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2004.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Susie Wilde Children's books · Chapel Hill Chapel Hill literary specialist who leads writing residencies and workshops for readers and writers of every age.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Sylvia Wilkinson Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist and former UNC creative writing lecturer whose A Killing Frost and Shadow of the Mountain both won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award; she also wrote a long series of books about auto racing.
  1 title at OCPL
• Dewey Williams Hillsborough Pastor of Mt. Bright Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough; his Finding Joy on Death Row grew from a prize-winning Yale sermon series.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Joel Williamson 1932–2019 Biography · Chapel Hill UNC historian of The Crucible of Race and biographer of Faulkner and Elvis.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Mary Willingham Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill With Jay M. Smith, wrote Cheated, the inside account of UNC's athletic-academic scandal.
  1 title at OCPL
• Louis Round Wilson 1876–1979 History & archives · Chapel Hill Founded UNC Press and the North Carolina Collection, and wrote the university's history; the main library bears his name.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Norman Wirzba Scholarship Duke theologian writing at the crossroads of faith, ecology, and agrarian life.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Martha Witt Southern fiction · Hillsborough Novelist of Broken as Things Are, which is on the Literary Map's list of books set in this county.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Thomas Wolf Biography · Chapel Hill Author of The Called Shot and co-author of Midnight Assassin; twice winner of the North Carolina Literary Review's Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Thomas Wolfe 1900–1938 Coming of age · Chapel Hill Studied at UNC from 1916 to 1920, edited the Daily Tar Heel, and saw his first plays staged by the Carolina Playmakers before Look Homeward, Angel turned Chapel Hill into Pulpit Hill. Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996.
  4 titles at OCPL
• Liza Wolff-Francis Poetry · Carrboro Poet of 48 Hours Down the Shore and Language of Crossing; served as Carrboro's eighth poet laureate from 2023 to 2025.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Frances M. Wood Children's books Novelist whose books include Daughter of Madrugada.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Peter Wood History & archives · Hillsborough Duke historian emeritus whose Black Majority reshaped the study of colonial slavery; a Hillsborough resident and 27 Views contributor.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Elizabeth Woodman History & archives · Hillsborough Founder of Hillsborough's Eno Publishers and editor of its 27 Views anthologies; co-author of the award-winning Hidden Hillsborough.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL
• Molly Worthen History & archives · Chapel Hill UNC historian of American religion whose books include Apostles of Reason and Spellbound.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL Website ↗
• Angie Wright Memoir & essays Reverend and author of Loving My Enemy & Other Outlandish Pursuits.
  Not at OCPL · Request by ILL Website ↗
• Y
• Jonathan Yardley Memoir · Chapel Hill Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism as the Washington Post's book critic; a UNC graduate and 1961 Daily Tar Heel editor.
  1 title at OCPL
• Edwin M. Yoder Jr. 1934–2023 Memoir · Mebane Winner of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing; he grew up in Mebane and died a Chapel Hill resident.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Lynn York Fiction · Chapel Hill Novelist of The Piano Teacher and The Sweet Life, and publisher of Blair, the North Carolina literary press.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Perry Deane Young 1941–2017 Memoir · Chapel Hill War correspondent and author of Two of the Missing and, with Dave Kopay, The David Kopay Story; his papers are at UNC.
  Not at OCPL · At nearby libraries · ILL
• Barbara Younger Children's books · Hillsborough Children's author of Purple Mountain Majesties, the story behind America the Beautiful.
  3 titles at OCPL Website ↗
• Z
• David Zucchino Journalism & cartooning · Chapel Hill Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose Wilmington's Lie chronicles the 1898 coup; a UNC graduate and former Daily Tar Heel editor who now teaches at UNC's journalism school.
  2 titles at OCPL
• Charles G. Zug III Scholarship · Chapel Hill UNC folklorist whose Turners and Burners is the standard work on North Carolina pottery.
  2 titles at OCPL