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THE WRITE STUFF

by BECKY DIXON

In our previous issue, I spotlighted a number of world-class chefs who keep Oklahoma taste buds happy. This time, let’s talk about writers. From a top courtroom novelist to an Oprah favorite, several best-selling authors call the Sooner State home.

WILLIAM BERNHARDT Tulsa author Bill Bernhardt is known for his popular courtroom novels featuring attorney Ben Kincaid. Readers first met Kincaid in Bernhardt’s 1991 debut novel, Primary Justice. “People always say, ‘write what you know,’” Bernhardt reflects. “I had just been through this whole law school/law firm experience, which was sometimes bizarre, sometimes disillusioning. This became the genesis of Ben Kincaid.”

Bernhardt’s twentieth and most recent book is Dark Eye, a thriller set in Las Vegas. “This is a change-of-pace novel for me,” he concedes, “involving a police psychologist and a young autistic man who join forces to find a serial killer.” A graduate of the University of Oklahoma Law School, Bernhardt was the youngest author ever inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. He is also the founder and owner of HAWK Publishing, which focuses on discovering new writers, particularly those in the Southwest.

BILLIE LETTS A native of southeast Oklahoma, Billie Letts was catapulted into national prominence in 1998 when her novel Where the Heart Is was selected for Oprah’s Book Club®. Set in Oklahoma, the novel tells the story of a young girl who gives birth in a Wal-Mart. In 2000, Where the Heart Is was made into a major motion picture starring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd.

Letts now lives and writes in Tulsa. Her newest novel, Shoot the Moon, is a mystery set in rural Oklahoma, and it shows her love for telling stories about the people she knows best. A former teacher, Letts is also an avid reader. “In some ways, everything I’ve read has helped me find the voice that speaks in my work,” she says.

CLIFTON TAULBERT Though he has lived in Tulsa for many years, Clifton Taulbert is widely acclaimed for chronicling his upbringing in the Mississippi Delta. His first book, Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored, became a major motion picture. Taulbert’s The Last Train North (which was nominated for a Pulitzer) as well as Watching Our Crops Come In and The Journey Home all focus on the author’s coming of age in the South.

Taulbert has also written numerous children’s books, as well as the internationally acclaimed Eight Habits of the Heart which became the basis for his public speaking career. He lectures throughout the world on his philosophy of building a powerful, effective, and caring community.

S.E. HINTON As a teenager, Tulsa native S.E. Hinton enjoyed reading but wasn’t satisfied with the literature being written for young adults. This influenced her to write novels like The Outsiders, Tex, and Rumble Fish. Having caught the attention of famed movie director Francis Ford Coppola, all three novels were made into films shot in Tulsa in the early 80s. I worked for the local ABC affiliate at the time and was assigned to cover the making of these movies. I interviewed then up-and-coming actors like Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, and Diane Lane. Not a bad assignment!

Though she is still known mainly for her youth fiction, Hinton’s most recent novel, Hawkes Harbor, is a suspense tale for adults. “I was getting itchy to write something different,” she admits. “But Hawkes Harbor is still very much an S.E. Hinton novel: character driven, focusing on relationships, and a story of one man’s journey to a different view of the world.”

These are just a few of the exceptional wordsmiths in Oklahoma. So whether you’re headed to the beach, the mountains, or somewhere in between this summer, take along a book by an Oklahoma author. You won’t be sorry!