Kathryn Stockett is an American novelist. She is known for her 2009

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''

The Help ''The Help'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s. A ''USA To ...

'', which is about

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

maids working in white households in

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, during the 1960s.

Career

Stockett worked in magazine publishing while living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

before publishing her first novel, which she began writing after the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. ''The Help'' took her five years to complete, and the book was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett. ''The Help'' has since been published in 42 languages. As of August 2012, it has sold ten million copies and spent more than 100 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. ''The Help'' climbed best seller charts a few months after it was released.

Personal life

Stockett grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to

. She lived there for 16 years and worked in magazine publishing and marketing. She is divorced and has a daughter. Reflective of her first novel, Stockett was very close to an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

domestic worker. A lawsuit was filed in a Mississippi court by Ablene Cooper, a housekeeper who used to work for Stockett's brother. It claimed that Stockett used her likeness in the book. A

Hinds County, Mississippi Hinds County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. With its county seats (Raymond, Mississippi, Raymond and the state's capital, Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson), Hinds is the most populous county in Mississ ...

judge threw the case out of court, citing the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

. Stockett denies her claim of stealing her likeness and says she only met her briefly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockett, Kathryn 1969 births Living people The Help Writers from Jackson, Mississippi Writers from Atlanta University of Alabama alumni American women novelists 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Mississippi Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)