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.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

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

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)
• 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 – )

See also

• List of people associated with San Francisco
• Litquake