Art and Literature
- Ernie Barnes (1938–2009), American Neo-Mannerist artist and former professional football player. (Durham)
- Romare Bearden (1911–1988), African-American artist and writer (Charlotte)
- Betsy Byars (born 1928), children's author (Charlotte)
- Fred Chappell (born 1936), author and North Carolina Poet Laureate 1997–2002 (Canton)
- Sarah Dessen (born 1970), writer of a number of novels for young adults (Chapel Hill)
- Thomas Dixon (1864–1946), author of Birth of a Nation (Shelby)
- Pamela Duncan (born 1961), novelist whose books often focus on the lives of working-class Southerners (Asheville)
- John Ehle (born 1925), author (Asheville)
- Charles Frazier (born 1950), author of the bestselling novel Cold Mountain (Asheville)
- Kaye Gibbons (born 1960), author of the novels Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman (Raleigh)
- Herb Jackson (born 1945), painter, given the North Carolina Award by the governor in 1999
- Paul Green (born 1894), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author of The Lost Colony (Lillington)
- Jim Grimsley (born 1955) is an American novelist and playwright. (Pollocksville, North Carolina)
- Harvey Littleton (born 1922) Glass artist, founder of the American Studio Glass movement
- John Littleton (born 1957) with collaborative partner Kate Vogel, is a glass artist based in Bakersville, North Carolina
- Margaret Maron, award-winning author of numerous mystery novels
- Kenneth Noland (born 1924), painter (Asheville)
- William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), prolific short story writer under the pen name O. Henry whose works include The Ransom of Red Chief and The Gift of the Magi (Greensboro)
- Tom Robbins (born 1936), author of the bestselling novel Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and other works of fiction (Blowing Rock)
- Nicholas Sparks (born 1965), author of bestselling novels including Message in a Bottle and Nights in Rodanthe (New Bern)
- Theodore Taylor (born 1921), author of over 50 books for young adults including The Cay (Statesville)
- Timothy Tyson, historian at Duke University and author of the bestselling book Blood Done Sign My Name (Oxford)
- Kate Vogel (born 1956) with collaborative partner, John Littleton, is a glass artist based in Bakersville, North Carolina
- Thomas Wolfe (1900–1948), author of classic novels such as Look Homeward, Angel and You Can't Go Home Again (Asheville)
Read more about this topic: List Of People From North Carolina
Famous quotes containing the words art and/or literature:
“The art of letters will come to an end before A.D. 2000.... I shall survive as a curiosity.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“Life’s so ordinary that literature has to deal with the exceptional. Exceptional talent, power, social position, wealth.... Drama begins where there’s freedom of choice. And freedom of choice begins when social or psychological conditions are exceptional. That’s why the inhabitants of imaginative literature have always been recruited from the pages of Who’s Who.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)