Cassandra King (born 18 February 1944) is an American writer. She has written five novels: ''Making Waves in Zion'' (1995), '' The Sunday Wife'' (2002), ''The Same Sweet Girls'' (2005), ''Queen of Broken Hearts'' (2007), and ''Moonrise'' (2013). King grew up in

Pinckard, Alabama Pinckard is a town in Dale County, Alabama, Dale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 582. Pinckard incorporated in 1893 and is part of the Dale County, Alabama, Ozark Micropolitan Stat ...

, and attended Alabama College ( BA, 1967). She later returned to the same institution (now called the

University of Montevallo A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

) and obtained an MFA in 1988. She has taught at

Jefferson State Community College Jefferson State Community College (informally Jeff State) is a public community college with multiple campuses in Alabama, including the Jefferson Campus in northeastern Birmingham, Alabama (eastern Jefferson County), the Shelby-Hoover Campus in ...

Gadsden State Community College Gadsden State Community College (Gadsden State, Gadsden, or GSCC) is a Public college, public Community college#United States, community college with campuses in Gadsden, Alabama, Gadsden, Centre, Alabama, Centre and Anniston, Alabama. The coll ...

, and the University of Montevallo. King was married to a pastor, and then divorced. She based her novel '' The Sunday Wife'' on her experience. She then married writer

Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books ''The Water Is Wide (book), The Water is Wide'', ''The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides (no ...

in 1998. After his death in 2016, King wrote a memoir, ''Tell Me a Story: My Life With Pat Conroy'' (2019), which was awarded the 2020

Southern Book Prize Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is a literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book awards." ''Publishe ...

for nonfiction. King won

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

's Hall-Waters Prize in 2017, and the 2025 Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Cassandra 1944 births Living people American women novelists People from Dale County, Alabama University of Montevallo alumni University of Montevallo faculty