Olive Ann Burns (July 17, 1924 – July 4, 1990) was an American writer from Georgia best known for her single completed novel, ''

Cold Sassy Tree ''Cold Sassy Tree'' is a 1984 historical novel by Olive Ann Burns. Set in the US state of Georgia in the fictional town of Cold Sassy (based on the real city of Harmony Grove, now Commerce) in 1906, it follows the life of a 14-year-old boy named ...

'', published in 1984.

Background

Olive Ann Burns was born in

Banks County, Georgia Banks County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 18,035, down from 18,395 in 2010. The coun ...

. Her father was a farmer but was forced to sell his farm in 1931 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The Burns family then moved to Commerce, Georgia. Burns attended Mercer University, where she wrote for the college magazine. Her sophomore year she transferred to the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, where she majored in journalism.

Career

Burns worked for the '' Atlanta Journal'' and wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Amy Larkin". She married Andy Sparks, a fellow journalist. In 1971 Burns began writing down family stories as dictated by her parents. In 1975 she was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

and began to change the family stories into a novel that would later become ''Cold Sassy Tree''. The novel was finally published eight years after it was begun, in 1984. Burns received so many letters pleading for a follow-up novel that she began writing ''Leaving Cold Sassy''. Burns died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in 1990, at age 65, in a hospital in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia, before finishing the manuscript, and the uncompleted novel was published in 1992 along with her notes.

References

Works

*''

'', published in 1984

External links

Olive Ann Burns
, in ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia''
Olive Ann Burns Collection
at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Olive Ann Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni 1924 births 1990 deaths People from Banks County, Georgia American women journalists American women novelists People from Commerce, Georgia 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers The Atlanta Journal-Constitution people 20th-century American non-fiction writers Pseudonymous women writers Mercer University alumni 20th-century pseudonymous writers