Major Works
- The Help (2009)
Biography of Kathryn Stockett
Kathryn Stockett was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi. She attended the University of Alabama and majored in English and Creative Writing. After graduation she moved to New York City where she worked in the magazine industry for nine years. She was married to Keith Rogers, but they are now divorced. They have one daughter. Stockett now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Stockett’s first novel The Help was a huge success. The story was inspired by Stockett’s own childhood. The novel, set in 1962, took Stockett five years to complete, and she received rejections from sixty literary agents before Susan Ramer agreed to be her agent. When published in 2009, the novel made the New York Times bestseller list for more than 100 weeks. The book was adapted by DreamWorks and made into a movie starring Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer.
Abilene Cooper, a nanny who worked for Stockett’s brother and once babysat for Stockett, filed a lawsuit against Stockett regarding her book. Cooper claimed that the character Aibileen Clark is modeled after her. Stockett denied the claim and a Hinds County judge dismissed the case.
Stockett is now working on a second novel.
Related Websites
- Kathryn Stockett’s page
- Gale biography for Stockett
- Kathyrn Stockett: Life in a Bell Jar by William Wyatt, editor of Creative Loafing and former deputy food editor of Atlanta Magazine.
- This Life : Kathyrn Stockett on Her Life in the South by Kathryn Stockett featured on the British Mail Online
- http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0514/With-book-sales-still-strong-The-Help-will-begin-filming by Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor’s book editor. With book sales still strong, ‘The Help’ will begin filming
- Cooper claims Stockett stole her life and made a film out of it.
- The Help lawsuit tossed out by Jerry Mitchell Clarion-Ledger , Aug. 16, 2011
Bibliography
- “Kathryn Stockett.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2011. N. pag. Biography in Context. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.