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Tuesday, May 06, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday: Awesome Arizona Authors
1:37 PM
It's been a hot minute since I've participated in Top Ten Tuesday. After neglecting my favorite weekly blogging event for too long, I'm back for today's fun prompt: Top Ten Authors Who Live in My State or Country. Although I was born and raised in the lush, rainy Pacific Northwest, I have lived in hot, dry Arizona since 2000. The Grand Canyon State has produced some legendary authors like Zane Grey, Erma Bombeck, Edward Abbey, Barbara Park, and more. Today, I'm going to focus on ten Arizona authors who are still living and producing books, whether I've read anything from them or not.
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Awesome Arizona Authors
1. Nicole Adair—Nicole's family lived near me for many years in Mesa and attended the same church congregation, so I know them fairly well. I know Nicole herself only slightly, but I'm excited that she's having success with her YA novels. I haven't read any of them yet. Soon, I hope!
2. Dusti Bowling—Bowling is my favorite Arizona author, hands down. She lives in Gilbert and writes wonderful middle-grade novels set in our state. She's best known for Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, but she's penned a number of others as well. I've read most of her books and have her latest, The Beat I Drum out from the library right now.
3. Diana Gabaldon—This hugely popular author of the Outlander series is one of Arizona's most famous writers. She was born in Williams and has lived in Scottsdale for years. I read and enjoyed Outlander awhile ago, but I have never picked up any of her others. Oops.
4. J.A. Jance—Jance, who grew up in Bisbee and now lives part-time in Tucson, has been publishing mystery novels since the 1980s. Although she has written dozens of books, I've never read any of them. She's on my list of authors to try.
5. Barbara Kingsolver—Kingsolver, who writes in a variety of genres, lives in southern Arizona part-time. I haven't read any of her books. Yet.
6. Isabella Maldonado—A few years ago while my husband and I were at our bank dealing with some issues, a teller and I started talking about our shared love of reading. She mentioned that a relative of hers, a retired police captain, had moved to Phoenix and started writing crime novels. At the time, I hadn't heard of Maldonado, but I see her name frequently these days. I haven't read anything by her yet, but I will!
7. Lisa McMann—McMann, who lives in Tempe, writes sci fi/fantasy books for middle-grade and teen readers. I've read and enjoyed her YA books. My kids liked her Unwanted series.
8. Stephenie Meyer—It's been a few years since Meyer published anything so I don't know if she's technically still writing or not, but I couldn't exclude her from this list since she's one of Arizona's most famous living authors. The creator of the Twilight saga, she lives in Cave Creek. Fun fact: New Moon is one of the first books I reviewed on this blog. I loved Twilight when I read it, but the series got hokey for me so I never finished it. I did enjoy The Host.
9. T.J. Newman—A former flight attendant, Newman lives in Phoenix and writes thrillers set on airplanes. I haven't read any of them yet, but I plan to at some point.
10. Jewell Parker Rhodes—Dr. Rhodes is the Virginia D. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. She's also the Founding Director of the Virginia D. Piper Center for Creative Writing and a bestselling author of historical fiction for both kids and adults. I've read and enjoyed several of her children's books.
Well, I clearly haven't done very well at reading local authors! I definitely need to do better. How about you? Have you read any of these Arizona authors? Which are your favorites? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
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Welcome back! I have missed your posts. Several of these are familiar to me, but the only one I have read is Stephanie Meyer's. I hope you are doing well. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteWow! You are rich in authors! ~Carol @ ReadingLadies
ReplyDeleteI've read a couple of these authors Diana Gabaldon and Stephanie Meyers a few years ago. Nice list!
ReplyDeleteStephanie is the only author on your list I'm familiar with! But it's fun that you shared the connections you had to some of these names. :) Love how you put this all together. Thanks a bunch for visiting my list today!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! It’s nice to see you around again.
ReplyDeleteI have family who live in Arizona. It’s a gorgeous state.
It was a surprise to me that I'd read a few from your list! Diana Gabaldon, Barbara Kingsolver, TJ Newman and Stephenie Meyer.
ReplyDeleteI would love to meet Diana Gabaldon!
ReplyDeleteLisa McMann! I haven't thought about her in ages, but I used to read and enjoy her YA books!
ReplyDeleteBarbara Kingsolver is my favorite author hands down!
ReplyDeleteThat is a stunning array of authors!! And I have read three of them, so there are seven others to check out now
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Stephanie Meyer was from Arizona! Makes sense now that Bella was from there. I was literally obsessed with the Twilight series. I've never reread it as I don't want to spoil my childhood fave with my more critical adult brain haha.
ReplyDeleteFun list! I recognised a few!
ReplyDeleteOoh nice list! Quite a few new to me ones here. Some sound familiar though! I tried to do one for MO but I couldn't think of many authors I read that live here. Lol. Of course, if I had expanded I would've found more even if I have never read them as I know of a few who either lived here originally or might still leave here now...that part would take some digging! Lol.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Tuesday Post
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)
Interesting to see who comes from Arizona. I definitely recommend you read Barbara Kingsolver. She is one of my all-time favourite authors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my post about German authors:
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/top-ten-tuesday-authors-or-books-by.html
I love Barbara Kingsolver!! Good one to claim. And also Diana Gabaldon!! I have Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus on my TBR. :)
ReplyDeleteMy takeaway from this is that I'm really shocked that TJ Newman is not a man, I would have sworn after reading falling!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list, Susan! Not sure I knew that all of these authors were Arizona people. OK, I've read some of them and haven't tried others. Like you, I read Outlander, but I've never continued with that series (I did like Outlander). I've read most of what Stephenie Meyer has written. J.A. Jance is a mystery author that I've read for many years. My favorite of her multiple series are the Joanna Brady books. And she's still writing. I think I read maybe one or two books by Barbara Kingsolver many years ago. Thanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fun TTT prompt!
ReplyDeleteI love Stephenie Meyer!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely that you went to church with one and spoke about another out and about! It's a small world sometimes.
Have a great week!
I knew Diana Gabaldon lives in Arizona, but had no idea about any of the others!
ReplyDeleteDiana Gabaldon and Stephenie Meyer are so famous!
ReplyDeleteBowling popped right into my head when I thought of AZ, and so did Kara McDowell and Abigail Johnson (both YA).
ReplyDeleteSo many great writers! Have read a few - will be checking out the others.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you've got these great authors from your state! I love Barbara Kingsolver!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great list of authors! :D
ReplyDeleteSuch a great list of authors! If you’re needing a recommendation of Barbara Kingsolver’s, I highly recommend the audiobook version of Demon Copperhead. It’s long, but it’s a wonderful story. Have a good weekend, Susan!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I didn't know Stephanie Meyer was from Arizona. It makes more sense with the opening for Twilight now. XD
ReplyDeleteMy favorite author from Arizona is an indie author Madeleine Elizabeth!
Wow, Arizona is hogging all the good authors! There are so many great authors on this list, and the only one I knew was from Arizona was Diana Gabaldon. But I've really enjoyed books by quite a few of these authors, even Erma Bombeck!
ReplyDelete