Fifteen Authors

I saw a note on a friend's Facebook page that said this:

"Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes."

Because I love reading and writing, and because I am that nerdy...I created my list:

1. Jack Kerouac
2. Don Miller
3. Hugh Prather
4. Billy Collins
5. Ted Kooser
6. John Steinbeck
7. Harper Lee
8. Sandra Cisneros
9. Paulo Friere
10. Natalie Goldberg
11. The apostle Paul
12. Ralph Waldo Emerson
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. Herman Hesse
15. Tom Robbins

16. Anne Lammot (I know--the rules say 15, but I have to add this one!)

I haven't necessarily read all of their books, but these authors will stick with me for the rest of my life. Many of them hooked me on literature and writing, while some made me enthusiastic about teaching, and others took me deeper in my faith. Reading is so powerful!