Tom Franklin

Thomas Gerald Franklin (born July 7, 1963) is an American writer originally from Dickinson, Alabama, United States.

Franklin earned a B.A. at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. He completed his M.F.A. at the University of Arkansas, in 1998, where he met his wife, poet Beth Ann Fennelly.

He credits authors Rick Bass and Raymond Carver for his introduction to the realism writing style.

As of 2026 he is an associate professor at the University of Mississippi.

Writing career Franklin's first book is collection of ten short stories, Poachers (1999), the title story of which won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Short Story.

His first novel, Hell at the Breech (2003), is a fictionalized version of a violent feud in 1892 called the Mitcham War, that took place in Clarke County, Alabama. about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In 2024, he won the Harper Lee Award.

Published works Poachers (1999) Short Stories, HarperCollins Publishers, Winner of The Edgar Award. Hell at the Breech (2003) Novel, HarperCollins Publishers Smonk (2006) Novel, HarperCollins Publishers Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (2010) Novel, HarperCollins Publishers. New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, RT Reviewers Choice Award for Best Contemporary Mystery, U.K. Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award The Tilted World (2013) Novel, with Beth Ann Fennelly HarperCollins