Kathryn Stockett is an American novelist. She is known for her 2009

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, '' The Help'', which is about

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

maid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

s working in white households in Jackson,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, during the 1960s.

Career

Stockett worked in magazine publishing while living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before publishing her first novel, which she began writing after the

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. ''The Help'' took her five years to complete, and the book was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett. ''The Help'' has since been published in 42 languages. As of August 2012, it has sold ten million copies and spent more than 100 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. ''The Help'' climbed best seller charts a few months after it was released.

Personal life

Stockett grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to

. She lived there for 16 years and worked in magazine publishing and marketing. She is divorced and has a daughter. Reflective of her first novel, Stockett was very close to an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

domestic worker A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

. A lawsuit was filed in a Mississippi court by Ablene Cooper, a housekeeper who used to work for Stockett's brother. It claimed that Stockett used her likeness in the book. A Hinds County, Mississippi judge threw the case out of court, citing the statute of limitations. Stockett denies her claim of stealing her likeness and says she only met her briefly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockett, Kathryn 1969 births Living people The Help Writers from Jackson, Mississippi Writers from Atlanta University of Alabama alumni American women novelists 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Mississippi Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)