Dorothy Allison is an American writer, speaker, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Themes in Allison’s work include class struggle, child and sexual abuse, women, lesbianism, feminism, and family.
Allison’s first novel, the semi-autobiographical Bastard Out of Carolina, was published in 1992 and was one of five finalists for the 1992 National Book Award.
Allison founded The Independent Spirit Award in 1998, a prize given annually to an individual whose work within the small press and independent bookstore circuit has helped sustain that enterprise.
Author website: http://www.dorothyallison.net
Books in order of publication:
Writing
The Women Who Hate Me: Poems by Dorothy Allison (1983)
Trash: Short Stories (1988)
The Women Who Hate Me: Poetry 1980–1990 (1991)
Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)
Skin: Talking About Sex, Class & Literature (1994)
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure (1995)
Cavedweller (1998)
Conversations with Dorothy Allison (2012)
Jason Who Will be Famous (2009)