Lists and Rankings

Alma Maters of Authors

Here are the places authors developed their writing chops (or just found the crazy things to write about).

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• Alice Sebold: Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY)
• Alice Walker: Spelman College (Atlanta, GA)
• Allen Ginsberg: Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Amy Tan: San Jose State University (San Jose, CA)
• Anne Rice: University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
• Anne Tyler: Duke University (Durham, NC)
• Belva Plain: Barnard College (New York, NY)
• Beverly Cleary: University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• Chaim Potok: Yeshiva University (New York, NY)
• Charlaine Harris: Rhodes College (Memphis, TN)
• Cormac McCarthy: University of Tennessee at Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
• Dan Brown: Amherst College (Amherst, MA)
• Danielle Steel: New York University (New York, NY)
• Dave Barry: Haverford College (Haverford, PA)
• Dean Koontz: Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Shippensburg, PA)
• E. B. White: Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
• Elia Kazan: Williams College (Williamstown, MA)
• Elizabeth Spencer: Belhaven University (Jackson, MS)
• Elmore Leonard: University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI)
• Emma McLaughlin: New York University (New York, NY)
• Erica Jong: Barnard College (New York, NY)
• Erich Segal: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Eudora Welty: Mississippi University for Women (Columbus, MS)
• Evan Wright: Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald: Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
• Faye Kellerman: University of California — Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
• Flannery O'Connor: Georgia College and State University (Milledgeville, GA)
• Garrison Keillor: University of Minnesota — Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN)
• George Plimpton: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Gertrude Stein (Radcliffe College): Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Harper Lee: Huntingdon College (Montgomery, AL)
• Heloise: Texas State University — San Marcos (San Marcos, TX)
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME)
• Herman Wouk: Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Irving Stone: University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• Isaac Asimov: Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Jack London: University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• James A. Michener: Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
• James Patterson: Manhattan College (Riverdale, NY)
• Janet Evanovich: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey — New Brunswick (Piscataway, NJ)
• Jodi Picoult: Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
• John Ball: Carroll University (Waukesha, WI)
• John Grisham: Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, MS)
• John Irving: University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)
• John Updike: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Jonathan Franzen: Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
• Jonathan Kellerman: University of California — Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
• Joseph Heller: Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Judith Guest: University of Michigan — Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)
• Judith Krantz: Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)
• Judy Blume: New York University (New York, NY)
• Ken Kesey: University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
• Mario Puzo: CUNY — City College (New York, NY)
• Martin Cruz Smith: University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
• Michael Crichton: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Mitch Albom: Brandeis University (Waltham, MA)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne: Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME)
• Nicholas Sparks: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
• Nicola Kraus: New York University (New York, NY)
• Norman Lear: Emerson College (Boston, MA)
• Norman Mailer: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Patricia Cornwell: Davidson College (Davidson, NC)
• Patricia Highsmith: Barnard College (New York, NY)
• Peter Benchley: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Philip Roth: Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA)
• Ralph Ellison: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
• Rich Cohen: Tulane University (New Orleans, LA)
• Richard Bach: California State University — Long Beach (Long Beach, CA)
• Richard Matheson: University of Missouri — Columbia (Columbia, MO)
• Richard Russo: The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)
• Robert Ludlum: Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT)
• Robert Penn Warren: Yale University (New Haven, CT)
• Robert Pinsky: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey — New Brunswick (Piscataway, NJ)
• Saul Bellow: Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
• Scott Turow: Amherst College (Amherst, MA)
• Sidney Sheldon: Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
• Stephen King: University of Maine (Orono, ME)
• Stephen R. Donaldson: The College of Wooster (Wooster, OH)
• Stephenie Meyer: Brigham Young University — Provo (Provo, UT)
• Sue Grafton: University of Louisville (Louisville, KY)
• Susan Sontag: University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
• Terry McMillan: University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss): Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)
• Thomas Pynchon: Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
• Thorton Wilder: Yale University (New Haven, CT)
• Tom Clancy: Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, MD)
• Tom Robbins: Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA)
• Tom Wolfe: Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA)
• Toni Morrison: Howard University (Washington, DC)
• Upton Sinclair: CUNY — City College (New York, NY)
• Wally Lamb: University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT)
• William S. Burroughs: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Winston Groom: The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)