Alabama Writers Hall of Fame inducting eight

You can say they have the “write stuff.”

Eight distinguished Alabamians will be inducted March 10 into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. The event will be at the Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa.

The inductees are Tom Franklin, Trudier Harris, Angela Johnson, Howell Raines, Michelle Richmond and Daniel Wallace. Eugene Walter and Kathryn Tucker Windham are being inducted posthumously.

• Franklin, who was born in Dickinson, is a novelist and short story writer. He is the author of the short story collection “Poachers” and the novels “Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter”; “Hell at the Breech” and “Smonk.”
• Harris helped to write and co-edit books largely focused on Black American literature and authors. Harris retired last year as the University of Alabama Distinguished Research Professor of English. She was born in Greene County.
• Born in Tuskegee, Johnson is the award-winning author of more than 40 books for children and young adults. Her first book, “Tell Me a Story, Mama,” was published in 1989. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003.
• Raines, a native of Birmingham, is a prize-winning journalist and author of fiction, nonfiction and memoirs. He reported for regional newspapers prior to various positions at The New York Times, and was executive editor for three years.
• Richmond is the author of six novels, several short story collections and numerous essays. Among her best-selling novels are “The Year of Fog,” “The Marriage Pact” and “The Wonder Test.” She is a recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for literary nonfiction or short story. Richmond is a native of Mobile.
• Wallace is a best-selling novelist, short story writer, children’s book author and illustrator. His best-selling novel, “Big Fish: A Story of Mythic Proportions,” was the basis for the 2003 film “Big Fish” by director Tim Burton. From Birmingham, Wallace is a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at the University of North Carolina.
• Originally from Mobile, Walter was a writer, actor, cookbook author, costume designer, host, editor and artist. He was a founding editor of Paris Review. His first novel, “The Untidy Pilgrim,” won the Lippincott Prize for fiction and his Time-Life cookbook “American Cooking: Southern Style” is also well known.
• Selma-born Tucker Windham was a journalist, photographer, folklorist, author, storyteller, actor and national radio commentator. She was the first female journalist for the Alabama Journal and later reported for The Birmingham News and the Selma Times-Journal. Her eight “Jeffrey” books presented ghost stories from throughout Alabama and beyond. She was best known for her appearances at storytelling festivals, schools and other events and for her regular commentaries for National Public Radio.

The Alabama Writers Hall of Fame, founded in 2014, is the product of a partnership between the Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Writers’ Forum.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.