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.

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
 * Meg Waite Clayton (January 1, 1959 – ), The Last Train to London, The Race for Paris, The Wednesday Sisters
 * Andy Couturier (June 3, 1964 – ), The Abundance of Less
 * Belo Cipriani (June 21, 1980 – ), Blind: A Memoir
 * Ann Weiser Cornell (1949 – ), The Power of Focusing

D
James Dalessandro, author/screenwriter of "1906:A Novel", "Bohemian Heart", and "Citizen Jane."
 * 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
 * Richard Dry (September 4, 1967 -- ), Leaving
 * 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
 * Michael Lederer (July 9, 1956 – ), Cadaqués
 * Ursula K. Le Guin (October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018), The Dispossessed
 * 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 (born 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 – )