This Goodly Land

Fannie Flagg (September 21, 1941–present)

Other Names Used

• Patricia Neal: birth name

Alabama Connections

• Irondale, Jefferson County: birthplace, childhood residence
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education
• Birmingham, Jefferson County: brief adult residence
• Fairhope, Baldwin County: adult residence

Selected Works

• Flagg, Fannie. Coming Attractions: A Wonderful Novel. New York: Morrow, 1981. Rpt. as Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. New York: Warner Books, 1992.
• Flagg, Fannie. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe. New York: Random House, 1987.
• Flagg, Fannie. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! A Novel. New York: Random House, 1998.
• Flagg, Fannie. Standing in the Rainbow. New York: Random House, 2002.
• Flagg, Fannie. A Redbird Christmas: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2004.
• Flagg, Fannie. Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2006.

Literary Awards

• Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 1989, for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe
• USC Scripter Award, Friends of the USC Libraries, 1992, for the screenplay for Fried Green Tomatoes

Biographical Information

Fannie Flagg was born and raised in Irondale, a suburb of Birmingham, Ala. As a child, she wanted to become a writer, but she had problems in school due to undiagnosed dyslexia. Flagg began acting at age fourteen with a Birmingham theater group. She changed her name at seventeen when she registered with Actors' Equity, since there was another actress named Patricia Neal. Flagg attended the University of Alabama and the Pittsburgh Playhouse drama school. When she returned from Pittsburgh, she co-hosted a morning television program in Birmingham. In 1965, Flagg moved to New York, where she wrote and performed for Upstairs at the Downstairs Club. She was recruited to write for and appear in the television program Candid Camera. Flagg went on to make comedy albums, act in television, in movies, and on the stage, and appear as a regular on the television game show Match Game.

In 1978, Flagg won first prize at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference with a short story that became the basis for her first novel, Coming Attractions. After her parents’ deaths in 1980, she decided to quit acting and write full-time. When the original screenwriter for the movie version of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe became ill, Flagg finished it, although the process took her three years. Flagg continues to write novels and divides her time between her homes in California, New York, and Alabama. In 2001, the Alabama State Council on the Arts selected her for its Distinguished Artist Award.

Interests and Themes

Fannie Flagg writes novels about small-town American life. Her books feature strong female characters and frequently call attention to racial and gender inequities. Several of her books have Alabama settings.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• Reynolds, Susan Salter. "Fannie Flagg: Voice of Middle America". Publishers Weekly 21 Sept. 1998: 30-31.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• Flagg, Fannie. "The Truth the Heart Knows"; The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Authors. Ed. Jay Lamar and Jeanie Thompson. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, . 35-38.

Reference Web Sites

• "Fannie Flagg". Bhamwiki. 2007. http://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fannie_Flagg.
• Kingsbury, Pam. "Fannie Flagg". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2009. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2462.
• Swaim, Don. "Audio Interview with Fannie Flagg". Wired For Books. Ohio University. http://www.wiredforbooks.org/fannieflagg/index.htm.

Photo courtesy of Random House.

Last updated on May 30, 2008.