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I know a lot of people are going to struggle with this one. I plan to start at the city level. If I can't find anything I will slowly expand out to the local region, state, larger region (i.e. Northeast, south, mid-west) and then country until you find something that works. Remember, the purpose isn't to restrict you but to broaden your horizons! A little flexibility is perfectly fine!

Arrgh!!! I'm from NY state, but not really the interesting part, so ... if I don't find anything close to home, there's always NYC! What's 200+ miles between friends??

Actually, I know we have a few other members who live in central / northern NY. Naturally I can't remember any names ... but maybe one of them will pop in and help :-)

Aww yisss, Fredrik Backman is from the region where I live. That should be easy. :)

Nadine wrote: "Arrgh!!! I'm from NY state, but not really the interesting part, so ... if I don't find anything close to home, there's always NYC! What's 200+ miles between friends??

Actually, I know we have a f..."

Laurie Halse Anderson is from Upstate New York!

I googled "Authors from South Bend, Indiana" and got this list:



which actually has two people I personally know on it (Tasha Alexander and Ted Leo).

Obviously not everyone can use this list, but can do the same type of search.

I'm from Nova Scotia and there are several but I may just count any Nova Scotian author rather than trying to find something I'll enjoy from my town.

I was wondering what ''local'' meant. Is it the same city? I may use the same province for that one, plenty of quebecois authors to read.

This will be easy if I finally manage to read some of our biggest classic authors. I already saw the third(!) movie version of one of his books last week.

Now I don't feel so guilty for buying a stack of books at our local comic-con this summer... I have my pick here. XD

This will be fairly easy for me. I live in a suburb of Washington D.C. I have David Baldacci, Laura Hillenbrand, Tom Clancy, George Pelecanos, Edward P Jones, etc, etc, etc, to choose from.

LOL I just typed up this long "I'm struggling with this" post ... and talked myself into reading Carl Sagan. So I'm all set now! :-)

this link may help!

*sigh* We have a few local authors. One is writing crime and uses a lot of local information, like street names, pubs etc. But I don't like his books at all. Another writes historical fiction.... my mum has read them all. But that's not really my thing, either... We'll see :)

Sara wrote: "I know a lot of people are going to struggle with this one. I plan to start at the city level. If I can't find anything I will slowly expand out to the local region, state, larger region (i.e. Nort..."

I love that this is general. The 100 mile restriction on the Read Harder Challenge this year felt unfair to those in rural areas. I'll probably use your strategy - start city, then state, then possibly expand. Maybe I'll finally read some Willa Cather.

For anyone in Maryland -

Nora Roberts writes romance and as J. D. Robb she writes mysteries set in the future.

Laura Lippman was a crime reporter for the local newspaper and now writes mysteries set in Baltimore.

Anne Tyler wrote A Spool of Blue Thread which is set in Baltimore.

Also Dashiel Hammett lived in Maryland and wrote mysteries.

Tom Clancy was also a Marylander

Marilyn wrote: "For anyone in Maryland -

Nora Roberts writes romance and as J. D. Robb she writes mysteries set in the future.

Laura Lippman was a crime reporter for..."

omg thank you!
also how could either one of us forget Edgar Allen Poe?!

I found authors who live(d) in NY.



These are authors who live(d) in Brooklyn:
Neal Shusterman
Ned Vizzini
Gayle Forman
Bernie SandersBernie Sanders
Nicola YoonNicola Yoon
SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfield
Laura Numeroff - she wrote If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I might read this.
Jenny Han

does it count if they moved to your area/state? or is it just authors who were born in your area/state?

Sara wrote: "I know a lot of people are going to struggle with this one. I plan to start at the city level. If I can't find anything I will slowly expand out to the local region, state, larger region (i.e. Nort..."

I try to buy a book from a local author when I travel. I could probably check my books for local authors in the following places:
Charlotte NC
Topsail NC
Miami FL
Sanibel FL
Charleston or Hilton Head SC (maybe)
If I remember some other places I will add them.

Ohio
Columbus:
R. L. Stien
Piper Kerman (she lives here now, not when she wrote OITNB)
Ruth Emmie Lang
James Thurber (Walter Mitty was my favorite of his)
J.D. Vance (he lived here during college, he also grew up in Middletown)

Toni Morrison Lorain OH
Celeste Ng Cleveland OH (during adolescence)
Harlan Ellison Cleveland OH (until the 70’s)

I'm going to just interpret it to mean the part of the state (Southern California) as local so I can read Tom Hanks' new short stories Uncommon Type: Some Stories. He was born in Northern California, but has lived in the L.A. area forever now.

I seem to live in a literary hotbed, so the hard part will be choosing. Right now I'm thinking Perfectly Undone, but I might finish it this month.

Oh this might be my favorite prompt. A few years ago I noticed that one of my favorite fantasy authors was born and is still living and writing only 15 min by car from my home town. I'll wait for a new book by Markus Heitz as I already read so much by him 😀

Some popular Oregon authors:
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ken Kesey
Jean Auel
Katherine Dunn
Chuck Palahniuk
Cheryl Strayed
Jon Krakauer
Patrick deWitt

Megan wrote: "Marilyn wrote: "For anyone in Maryland -

Nora Roberts writes romance and as J. D. Robb she writes mysteries set in the future.

Laura Lippman was a cr..."

Although Poe's grave in Baltimore City is Famous, he was actually more of a Virginian. I do a reading challenge each year where I read at least ONE book by at least ONE author FROM each state. Sometimes it is difficult to assign a state to someone, BUT once I have made my determination I don't also use that same author for another state. Hemingway was difficult, but I settled on Illinois. The challenge is actually here at ŷ������ with suggestions if anyone is interested.

/group/show/...

My closest author was roald Dahl so I think I'll go with one of his books

I didn't realize Justin Cronin was from Houston. I'll probably actually try to finish The Passage.

One of my least favourite kinds of prompts! I was hoping not to have anything related to hometown/home "state"/etc. This one is a little more broad at least, so I'm hoping to find something. I live near Toronto. Any suggestions?

I think I am going to read one or more Beverly Cleary books while sitting in the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden in Grant Park. I walked over there for the first time yesterday and it's lovely!

Colin Meloy is also local to Portland as is Matt Groening

Rachel wrote: "One of my least favourite kinds of prompts! I was hoping not to have anything related to hometown/home "state"/etc. This one is a little more broad at least, so I'm hoping to find something. I live near Toronto. Any suggestions?"



Margaret Atwood went to high school and college, at least, in Toronto
Morley Callaghan
Austin Clarke
Matt Cohen
Timothy Findley
Barbara Gowdy
Katherine Govier
Howie Mandel

So I'm living in London, and trying to go as local as possible by reading someone who's from (or at least wrote about) my neighborhood.

Luckily, Douglas Adams and Nick Hornby qualify. :)

Here are some authors I've found for NC.

1. Patricia Cornwell - she was born in FL but moved here when she was 6. I personally would still count this as local
2. Thomas Wolfe
3. Orson Scott Card - again he wasn't born in NC but moved here and from what I've found he's still living in Greensboro
4. Sarah Desson - also not born here but moved here at a young age and lives in Chapel Hill
5. Timothy Tyson
6. Robert Beatty - He wrote the Serafina books which are set at/around the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. This is probably going to be my pick.

I know at my local library they have a display for local authors. I'll check it out next time I go and update my post.

I hate this prompt. I'm from Rosario, Argentina. There are a few authors from my city and I've already read almost everything they wrote. The only local book I haven't read is 1300 pages long (Los Sorias) and extremely hard to find. Did I mention that I hate this prompt already? *sigh*

Luciana wrote: "I hate this prompt. I'm from Rosario, Argentina. There are a few authors from my city and I've already read almost everything they wrote. The only local book I haven't read is 1300 pages long ([boo..."

Well, "local" can be pretty broad if you need it to be. I'm permitting myself to consider authors from many other Colorado cities and even a nearby state. Here's an article that might possibly spark some ideas for you:

If you live in or around Philadelphia you can read anything by Jerry Spinelli, Jennifer Weiner, Matthew Quick, Buzz Bissinger, or Lisa Scottoline!

The way this prompt is written it seems like you could read a local author from somewhere you visit in 2018. It doesn't say local to where you live. (I know this still limits people who aren't able to travel, but might be helpful to some.)

I am lucky enough to live in San Francisco and we have plenty of local authors including Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Isabel Allende, Dave Eggers, Lemony Snicket, Armistead Maupin, and Dashiell Hammett, among others.

I am (not so) patiently waiting to finally read All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. And, since I am also reading a comic book for this prompt, I can finally read my friend's boyfriend's book from 1994: WildStar, Sky Zero: Born Under a Bad Sign

Eujean2 wrote: "The way this prompt is written it seems like you could read a local author from somewhere you visit in 2018. It doesn't say local to where you live. (I know this still limits people who aren't able..."

Thank you so much for this list, I live in SF and was about to start frantically googling local authors :-) I love almost all of these authors so this will be a great category for me.

Also, “local�� is relative. Some people consider the whole DMV area as “local��.

For this prompt, I'm reading My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. She's local to me (Columbus, Ohio area) and I went to high school with her younger sister Rachel.

Rachel wrote: "One of my least favourite kinds of prompts! I was hoping not to have anything related to hometown/home "state"/etc. This one is a little more broad at least, so I'm hoping to find something. I live..."

Did you read Station Eleven this year? She's from BC but went to college in Toronto, and the book is partly set there.

Well, I thought being in Chicago, I would instantly find tons of options, but it looks like it might be more difficult. Hemingway was born here, but it's not like he really spent a large part of his adult life in IL. Plus, I didn't care much for The Old Man and the Sea, and I absolutely hated A Farewell to Arms. I guess there's still hope for The Sun Also Rises?

Maybe I'll just come across something.

I'm from Portugal, and I plan on reading a book by a Portuguese author. I've been wanting to read Codex 632 for a while so that's probably what I will choose.

I live in Saskatchewan in a fairly small town. I was struggling with this prompt when I realized that a coworker of mine has written three books. I am going to read- Autism goes to School by Sharon Mitchell

I live in a tiny town in Northern Germany. For last years prompt I found a book by a local author (Tango für einen Hund), but I didn't enjoy it too much, so won't reread. This time I'm gonna go broader and pick a German author who lives/lived relatively close by, Cornelia Funke.

I'm from New Mexico so I'm going to try to tackle a big one:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I'm going with Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi. She was born in my hometown so i'm counting that!! Otherwise there is no one that I know of haha I hail from a fairly rural setting, so there isn't a lot of choice. I always find it kind of funny how my town claims Portia de Rossi. I admire her and look forward to reading her story, but the truth is she was only born in my town. She didn't grow up there or anything. Our town even tried to petition for her to come and visit when she was visiting Australia once with her wife Ellen DeGenerous. They build a memorial-esk plaque and everything. She didn't come though, because why would she, she wasn't really from here haha. So if my town can claim her as a local, so can I for the purposes of this prompt.

I just found out that I lived for years on the same street where a Nobel Laureate used to live when he was in school, and I still live in the same town (where he also later returned for a while). That's pretty local, I guess... I should have realised, there was one school nearby that has been named after him.

Tytti wrote: "I just found out that I lived for years on the same street where a Nobel Laureate used to live when he was in school, and I still live in the same town (where he also later returned for a while). T..."

That's pretty cool Tytti!

Rachel wrote: "One of my least favourite kinds of prompts! I was hoping not to have anything related to hometown/home "state"/etc. This one is a little more broad at least, so I'm hoping to find something. I live..."

Robert J. Sawyer is in Toronto, I think.

I meant to read Kitty and the Midnight Hour this year for Book Riot’s prompt but by fluke read something else set in Denver first, so I may go that route. Though Kenya’s comment made me contemplate waiting for Comic Con and picking something up in person.

Mike wrote: "I googled "Authors from South Bend, Indiana" and got this list:



which actually has two people I personally know on it (Tash..."

I was excited to see this post! I am also from this area and was dreading trying to find a local author! Thanks!