By County

Writers are listed by county of birth, if born in North Carolina; those born outside the state are listed by county of longest or most notable residence.

Alamance County
Jaki Shelton Green (1953-)Bladen County
Guy Owen (1925-1981)Buncombe County
Wilma Dykeman (1920-2006)
John Ehle (1925-2018)
Charles Frazier
Jonathan Williams (1929-2008)
Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)Chatham County
George Moses Horton (circa 1797-1883)Chowan County
Inglis Fletcher (1879-1969)
Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897)Cleveland County
Wilbur J. Cash(1900-1941)Columbus County
A.R. Ammons (1926-2001)

Craven County
John Lawson (1674-1711)

Cumberland County
Charles Chesnutt (1858-1932)

Davidson County
Richard Walser (1908-1988)

Duplin County
Randall Kenan (1963-2020)
Richard Walser (1908-1988)

Durham County
Helen Bevington (1906-2001)
Burke Davis (1913-2006)
Clyde Edgerton (1944-)
John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)
Pauli Murray (1910-1985)

Forsyth County
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Granville County
Sam Ragan (1915-1996)
Thad Stem, Jr. (1916-1980)

Guilford County
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965)
O. Henry–William Sydney Porter (1862-1910)
Carole Boston Weatherford

Harnett County
Paul Green (1894-1981)

Haywood County
Fred Chappell (1936- )

Henderson County
Robert Morgan (1944- )
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

Iredell County
Doris Betts (1932-2012)

Jackson County
Kathryn Stripling Byer (1944-2017)Johnston County
Margaret Maron (1938-2021)
William S. Powell (1919-2015)
Shelby Stephenson (1938-)Mecklenburg County
Anthony S. Abbott (1935-2020)
William LeGette Blythe (1900-1993)Moore County
James Boyd (1888-1944)
Glen Rounds (1906-2002)
Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986)Nash County
Allan Gurganus (1947-)New Hanover County
Robert Ruark (1915-1965)Orange County
Louis D. Rubin, Jr. (1923-2013)
Lee Smith (1944-)
Elizabeth Spencer (1921-2019)
Bland Simpson (1948-)
Max Steele (1922-2005)
Marsha White Warren

Pender County
Samm-Art Williams (1946- )

Richmond County
Tom Wicker (1926-2011)

Robeson County
Jill McCorkle (1958-)
James Ephraim McGirt (1874-1930)
Joseph Mitchell (1908-1996)

Rowan County
Christian Reid (Frances Fisher, 1846-1920)

Scotland County
Ronald H. Bayes (1932-2021)
Gerald Johnson (1890-1980)
John Charles McNeill (1874-1907)

Swain County
Olive Tilford Dargan (1869-1968)

Union County
Penelope Niven (1939-2014)

Wake County
Betty Adcock (1938-)
Gerald Barrax (1933-2019)
Jonathan Worth Daniels (1902-1981)
Bernice Kelly Harris (1891-1973)
Walter Hines Page (1855-1918)
Frances Gray Patton (1906-2000)
Elizabeth Daniels Squire (1926-2001)

Warren County
James W. Clark, Jr.
Reynolds Price (1933-2011)

Wilson County
James Applewhite (1935-)