Olive Ann Burns (July 17, 1924 – July 4, 1990) was an American writer from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

best known for her single completed novel, '' Cold Sassy Tree'', published in 1984.

Background

Olive Ann Burns was born in Banks County, Georgia. Her father was a farmer but was forced to sell his farm in 1931 during the Great Depression. The Burns family then moved to

Commerce, Georgia Commerce is a city in Jackson County, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 7,387. History Native American history Before European settlers arrived, the area around present-day Commerce was inhabit ...

. Burns attended

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 s ...

, where she wrote for the college magazine. Her sophomore year she transferred to the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, where she majored in journalism.

Career

Burns worked for the ''

Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' and wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Amy Larkin". She married Andy Sparks, a fellow journalist. In 1971 Burns began writing down family stories as dictated by her parents. In 1975 she was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...

and began to change the family stories into a novel that would later become ''Cold Sassy Tree''. The novel was finally published eight years after it was begun, in 1984. Burns received so many letters pleading for a follow-up novel that she began writing ''Leaving Cold Sassy''. Burns died of heart failure in 1990, at age 65, in a hospital in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia, before finishing the manuscript, and the uncompleted novel was published in 1992 along with her notes.

References

Works

*'' Cold Sassy Tree'', published in 1984

External links

Olive Ann Burns
, in ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia''
Olive Ann Burns Collection
at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Olive Ann Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni 1924 births 1990 deaths People from Banks County, Georgia American women journalists American women novelists People from Commerce, Georgia 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers The Atlanta Journal-Constitution people 20th-century American non-fiction writers Pseudonymous women writers Mercer University alumni 20th-century pseudonymous writers