Ernest J. Gaines(1933-2019)

After living in San Francisco for several years, he returned to Louisiana as a professor and writer-in-residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He purchased a six-acre plot on the plantation where he grew up, built a house, and restored the rustic church where he had attended school as a child.

Everyone asked me, "Who is she based on?" I've never met one Miss Jane Pittman, I've met a thousand. [on being asked about the inspiration for his best-known book]