Several sorority women have written fiction whose characters are sorority women. Here is the list I put together.
Lillian Budd (Sigma Kappa) authored One Heart, One Way (1959). Each year, the Sigma Kappa Foundation names a Lillian Peterson Budd Award winner to recognize a chapter’s participation in national and local gerontology activities during a calendar year.
Joy Callaway (Alpha Xi Delta) Secret Sisters is set in Illinois. Coincidentally, Alpha Xi was founded in Illinois.
Pauline Coleman (Alpha Chi Omega) wrote Not an Iota (1959), a book for young adults.
Elizabeth Corbett (Alpha Gamma Delta) in The Three Lives of Sharon Spence (1969) tells the story of the fictional Sharon Spence from three points of view.
Lisa Patton (Kappa Delta) has penned three novels about Leelee Satterfield, a southern sorority woman. (Her newest book is Rush.)
Jennifer Samson (Alpha Phi) has authored a series titled Brookline University.
Anne Rivers Siddons (Delta Delta Delta) wrote Outer Banks (1991). It is the story of a pledge class reunion. The fictional version came after Siddons had a reunion with her Auburn University Tri Delta pledge sisters. In 2004, she was named a Tri Delta Woman of Achievement.
Kathryn Stockett (Phi Mu), a University of Alabama graduate, wrote her debut novel, The Help (2009), about a group of Ole Miss Chi Omegas.
Denise Swanson (Alpha Sigma Alpha) has a series called Scumble River Mysteries. The main character is a detective who happens to be an Alpha Sigma Alpha alumna.
Claudia Welch (Alpha Phi) wrote Sorority Sisters (2012), the story of a group of women who pledged a California sorority. Welch also has an e-book Sorority Sisters, the Truth about Sorority Girls: What Rush Taught Me about Life, Work, Friendship and False Impressions (2012). Welch said of her time in the Alpha Phi chapter at the University of Southern California, “Being a sorority girl taught me some of the most valuable lessons of my life.”
I’d also like to mention Jen Lancaster (Pi Beta Phi), although it is in her memoirs, Bitter is the New Black and Pretty in Plaid, in which she talks about her sorority experience.
And while I am mentioning favorite authors, I’d like to add Doris Kearns Goodwin (Delta Delta Delta) because I enjoy her books. Goodwin was a 2006 Tri Delta Woman of Achievement.
There are a few other writers who have written stories about sorority women. I have not been able to make any sorority connection. These writers include Anne Emery (Northwestern University), Shelly Reuben, and Babs (Hodges) Deal (University of Alabama). If you know of a definite sorority connection, please let me know. And if I have missed anyone, please let me know that, too.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
