Kathryn Stockett is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist. She is known for her 2009
debut novelA debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are 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 publish in the future...
,
The HelpThe Help is an American situation comedy television series which premiered on The WB on March 5, 2004. The show was a raunchy comedy that focused on the hard-lucked life of a beauty school dropout, who now must work for the wealthy and spoiled Ridgeway family. The rest of the hired help are also...
, which is about
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
maids working in white households in
JacksonJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
,
MississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
during the 1960s.
Career
The Help is Stockett's début novel. She previously worked in magazine publishing while living in New York City. It took her five years to complete the book, which was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett.
The Help has since been published in 35 countries and three languages. As of August 2011, it has sold five million copies and has spent more than a 100 weeks on the The New York Times Best Seller list.
The Help climbed best seller charts a few months after it was released, eventually selling 5 million copies as of August 2011.
Personal
Stockett is originally from
Jackson, MississippiJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
. Her childhood friend was actor and director
Tate TaylorTate Taylor is an American actor, screenwriter, film producer and director.He was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He is a close friend of a writer Kathryn Stockett, whom he has known since they were in preschool together in Jackson....
.
Until 2001, Stockett lived in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she worked in publishing. She lives in Atlanta and has a daughter from a previous marriage.
Reflective of her first novel, Stockett was raised by an
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
domestic workerA domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
in lieu of an absentee mother.
A lawsuit was filed in a Mississippi court by a maid who used to work for Stockett's brother. It claimed that Stockett used her likeness in the book. A
Hinds County, MississippiAs of the census of 2000, there were 250,800 people, 91,030 households, and 62,355 families residing in the county. The population density was 288 people per square mile . There were 100,287 housing units at an average density of 115 per square mile...
judge threw the case out of court, citing the
statute of limitationsA statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
. Stockett denies her claim of stealing her likeness, and says she only met her briefly.
External links