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Friends of the Orange County Public Library

Local Authors

Orange County has long been home to novelists, poets, historians, journalists, children's authors, and other writers. Explore the people connected to Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and communities across the county, and find their books at OCPL and beyond.

1,876 connected writers · 281 represented at OCPL · 1,117 titles in the OCPL catalog as checked in September 2026

Includes writers who lived or worked here, studied or taught here, took part in the county’s literary life, or wrote substantially about this place. How writers qualify and how the research was done →

Holdings on this page come from the last check of the OCPL catalog, in September 2026. The catalog links open the library’s current catalog, where availability is live.

Find or research a writer Search 1,876 writers, their works, names and sources Find your next book Books by Orange County writers, on the shelf at OCPL Explore by town Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of the county Meet the literary community Book fairs, talks and the Friends’ own history

Local Writers at the Library

The Wall Street Journal called Hillsborough “America's Little Literary Town” in 2014, but the county's literary life reaches well beyond one town. Through author talks, book fairs, workshops, and community events, the library and the Friends have long helped local writers meet readers. Many authors in this directory have appeared at library programs, and some are Friends members, volunteers, or supporters.

Janet Evanovich, center, takes questions between two panelists at a Friends author evening in the library meeting room.
Janet Evanovich takes questions at the Friends' author evening.
Daniel Wallace signing his children's book The Cat's Pajamas for a family of young readers at the library.
Daniel Wallace signs The Cat's Pajamas at a Friends book sale.
Diane Kelly in costume with crime scene tape at her mystery table at the Local Author Book Fair.
Diane Kelly, in character, at the Local Author Book Fair.
Samantha Bryant under her Menopausal Superheroes banner at the Local Author Book Fair.
Samantha Bryant under her Menopausal Superheroes banner.
Eryk Pruitt holding Townies and What We Reckon at the Local Author Book Fair.
Eryk Pruitt at the 2019 Local Author Book Fair.
Suzanne Adair at her table at the Local Author Book Fair.
Suzanne Adair at her book fair table.
Melissa Bourbon at her mystery table at the Local Author Book Fair.
Melissa Bourbon at the Local Author Book Fair.
J.S. Emuakpor and guest at the Afrocentric Books table at the Local Author Book Fair.
J.S. Emuakpor at the Afrocentric Books table.
Celeste Shirecliffe with a prize wheel at the Local Author Book Fair.
Celeste Shirecliffe and the book fair prize wheel.
Alexis Thomas holding her book at the Local Author Book Fair.
Alexis Thomas at the Local Author Book Fair.
Dee Stribling at her table at the Local Author Book Fair.
Dee Stribling, Hillsborough's poet laureate, at the fair.
Elizabeth Hein with her novels at the Local Author Book Fair.
Elizabeth Hein with her novels.
Emily Buehler at her table at the Local Author Book Fair.
Emily Buehler at the Local Author Book Fair.
Alex Evanovich at the whiteboard leading the library's creative writing workshop for teens.
Alex Evanovich leads the teen creative writing workshop.
Comic creator L Jamal Walton signing at his table at the library comics fair.
L Jamal Walton signing at the library comics fair.
Samantha Bryant at her Menopausal Superheroes table at the library comics fair.
The comics fair brings its own local creators.

Author talks at the library

Oct 22, 2026 · coming up Weaving Your Story World: Workshop with Author Melora Fern Southern Sep 17, 2026 Strengthening Your Story's Structure: Writing Workshop with Author Melora Fern Southern Aug 18, 2026 Book Launch with John Claude Bemis: Rodeo Hawkins and the Sons of Disaster Main Aug 13, 2026 Local Author Talk: "Loving My Enemies & Other Outlandish Pursuits" by Reverend Angie Wright Main

All author events → · See what’s coming up →

What should I read?

Books by local writers, all available from OCPL.

  • Look Alive Twenty-five Janet Evanovich Mystery · Chapel Hill At OCPL ↗
  • Maxwell's Magic Mix-up Linda Ashman Children's books · Chapel Hill At OCPL ↗
  • Keeping the Moon Sarah Dessen Young adult · Chapel Hill At OCPL ↗
  • The Dry Grass of August Anna Jean Mayhew Historical fiction · Hillsborough At OCPL ↗
  • Glitter Bomb Aaron Belz Poetry · Hillsborough At OCPL ↗
  • Argos Ralph Hardy Chapel Hill At OCPL ↗

Every book here is in the OCPL catalog as last checked; jackets come from Open Library.

Writers by town

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

The clock tower and columns of the Old Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough

Hillsborough 128

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

Lee Smith · Allan Gurganus · Frances Mayes · Jill McCorkle

Explore Hillsborough writers →
The Old Well at UNC-Chapel Hill among spring azaleas

Chapel Hill 923

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 →
The old rail depot at the heart of Carrboro

Carrboro 51

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 3 Efland 1 Mebane 10

Start somewhere

Four ways into a directory of 1,876 writers.

Writers your kids may already know Picture books, middle grade and young adult, by people from here. 59 writers North Carolina on the page Writers whose books are catalogued as being about this state, not merely written in it. 66 writers Poets of Orange County Laureates, teachers and spoken-word artists across the county. 108 writers Read one tonight Local authors OCPL lends as an ebook, borrowable without leaving the sofa. 57 writers

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

Local Author Directory

How writers qualify and how the research was done

This directory brings together writers who live or have lived in Orange County, as well as authors whose work, teaching, or public life has a substantial connection to the community. Each entry is supported by a public source, such as a library or Friends event, a bookstore's local-author list, a laureate appointment, the North Carolina Literary Map, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, or the historical record.

Town tags indicate a documented connection through residence, work, study, or sustained literary activity; they do not necessarily reflect a writer's current residence. The Connection filter says which kind of tie the sources record: born in the county, lived or worked here, taught at UNC, or studied at UNC. Local writers, the narrower view above the directory, keeps the first two: people born here or who lived or worked here. All connected writers adds UNC faculty and alumni, people active in the county’s literary life, and writers about the county.

We use Library of Congress name authority records when available to tell apart writers with similar names, connect pen names and name variations, and identify their works consistently across catalogs. Entries matched this way say so under Identity and research sources.

22 writers share a name with other authors and are listed without a catalog count, because a name search would show someone else’s books; they appear under neither At OCPL nor Not at OCPL.

Catalog counts reflect the OCPL catalog as last checked, in September 2026; the catalog links themselves open the library’s current catalog. Each card also lists a few of the author’s works, drawn from Library of Congress catalog records and Open Library; the titles OCPL holds link into its catalog, WorldCat finds the rest in other libraries, and interlibrary loan may be another way to request one. The search box looks through those titles as well as names and biographies.

This is a growing directory, not a complete one. Know someone we should add, or see something that needs correcting? Send us an update →

1,876 connected writers · 281 at OCPL · 1,117 titles in the OCPL catalog

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

About the research

The directory currently records 1,876 writers, 281 of them with books in the OCPL catalog, across 6 Orange County communities.

This directory draws on public records: library and Friends events, our own newsletter interviews and files, the local author shelves at Purple Crow Books and Flyleaf Books, the county Arts Commission's CreativeOrange directory, and poet laureate appointments in Hillsborough, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill and for the Piedmont and the state. For writers of earlier generations we have used UNC's North Carolina Collection and Southern Historical Collection, the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery register, and standard county histories. The North Carolina Literary Map, a project of the UNC Greensboro University Libraries and the State Library of North Carolina whose data we use with permission, associates 372 writers with Orange County; we have drawn on it selectively rather than reproduced it, since its county attributions range from lifelong residence to a single student year. We have not attempted to list every UNC or Duke faculty author. Connections and biographical details change, and some writers are surely missing. Corrections and additions are welcome at nclitmap@uncg.edu for the Literary Map, and through our contact form for this page.

This page is provided as a community resource. The Friends do not select or fund the library's collection. Town photographs come via Wikimedia Commons, public domain and CC0.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connects people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Explore Local Publishers → Research Orange County →

Who are we missing?

1,876 writers and counting.

If you write in Orange County, or you know someone we haven’t found, tell us. Every submission is read before the directory changes.

Add or correct an author →

The Friends have been bringing local writers and readers together for decades. Membership helps keep it going →

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026