Who's Massachusetts' Favorite Author? You'll Never Guess

Here's a question for you avid Berkshire County literature lovers: If you had to guess, who would you say was Massachusetts' favorite author? One of our elder statesmen such as Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, or Nathaniel Hawthorne?

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Or perhaps someone a little more contemporary like James Patterson, Danielle Steele, or New England's own Stephen King? Recently StoicQuotes.com conducted a survey of 3,000 respondents looking into the favorite authors in each state.

Now, first and foremost, authors who are still alive were NOT included in the survey so that may knock off a lot of your guesses right off the bat. Needless to say, some of the choices were somewhat surprising, at least to me.

For instance, New Hampshire's favorite author is Grace Metalious. Some of you might be thinking "Who?" If you're familiar with the name, congrats, you rock! Bonus points if you know the name of the literary work that first got her noticed..."Peyton Place" in case you didn't know.

New York's favorite author was another surprise. The author of 1953's very underrated "Go Tell It on the Mountain", James Baldwin, got the honor. On the other hand, some states' choice of favorite author was not so surprising.

Tennessee Williams was Mississippi's choice. Ernest Hemingway was Florida and Idaho's top choice. And Anne Rice (who we just recently lost in 2021) who hailed from New Orleans was the fave of Louisiana.

Massachusetts' favorite author spent the majority of her life in Massachusetts and was born in Amherst. Did those hints give you any help? Emily Dickinson was the top favorite of Bay Staters. Louisa May Alcott was the second choice followed by Henry David Thoreau.

Check out the favorite authors of all the states by visiting the StoicQuotes website here.

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