Jan Karon’s Followers (2,544)

Jan Karon

Born

in Lenoir, North Carolina, The United States

January 01, 1937

Website

http://www.mitfordbooks.com/

Genre

Contemporary, Christian Fiction, Domestic Fiction

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Born Janice Meredith Wilson in 1937, Jan Karon was raised on a farm near Lenoir, North Carolina. Karon knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a writer. She penned her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. Karon married as a teenager and had a daughter, Candace.

At 18, Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte, N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss, who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field, winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time, she became a creative vice president at the high-pr Born Janice Meredith Wilson in 1937, Jan Karon was raised on a farm near Lenoir, North Carolina. Karon knew at a very early age that she wanted to be a writer. She penned her first novel when she was 10 years old, the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. Karon married as a teenager and had a daughter, Candace.

At 18, Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte, N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss, who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field, winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time, she became a creative vice president at the high-profile McKinney & Silver, in Raleigh. While there, she won the prestigious Stephen Kelly Award, with which the Magazine Publishers of America honor the year's best print campaign.

During her years in advertising, Karon kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. At the age of 50, she left her career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to pursue that dream. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway, Karon awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious about him, and started writing. Soon, Karon was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper, The Blowing Rocket, which saw its circulation double as a result. "It certainly worked for Mr. Dickens", says Karon.

The Father Tim stories became Karon's first Mitford novel, At Home in Mitford. That book has since been nominated three times (1996, 1997, and 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers, and the only book ever nominated for three consecutive years. The fourth Mitford novel, A New Song, won both the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000. A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherds Abiding have also won Gold Medallion awards. Out to Canaan was the first Mitford novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list; subsequent novels have debuted on the New York Times list, often landing the #1 spot.

Karon has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther's Gift, as well as Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotes, a compilation of wit and wisdom, and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim. In addition, Karon has written two children's books, Miss Fannie's Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed.

Karon says her character-driven work seeks to give readers a large, extended family they can call their own. Though Light From Heaven is officially the final novel in the series, there's yet another Mitford book in this prolific author. Karon urges her millions of ardent fans to look for the Mitford Bedside Companion, releasing in the Fall of 2006. "It has everything in it but the kitchen sink", says Karon. ...more

Combine Editions
Jan Karon’s books

Average rating: 4.24 · 310,247 ratings · 20,468 reviews · 122 distinct works • Similar authors

	At Home in Mitford (Mitford Years, #1) 4.13 avg rating — 67,288 ratings — published 1994 — 72 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Light in the Window (Mitford Years, #2) 4.25 avg rating — 27,878 ratings — published 1995 — 72 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A New Song (Mitford Years, #5) 4.31 avg rating — 23,489 ratings — published 1999 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	These High, Green Hills (Mitford Years, #3) 4.30 avg rating — 23,169 ratings — published 1996 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Out to Canaan (Mitford Years, #4) 4.31 avg rating — 20,397 ratings — published 1997 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In This Mountain (Mitford Years, #7) 4.33 avg rating — 17,783 ratings — published 2002 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shepherds Abiding (Mitford Years, #8) 4.26 avg rating — 16,732 ratings — published 2003 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Common Life: The Wedding Story (Mitford Years, #6) 4.20 avg rating — 16,597 ratings — published 2001 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Light from Heaven (Mitford Years, #9) 4.39 avg rating — 14,989 ratings — published 2005 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good (Mitford Years, #12) 4.30 avg rating — 14,158 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jan Karon…

Series by Jan Karon

Mitford Years (14 books)
by

Jan Karon

4.24 avg rating — 293,274 ratings

Father Tim (2 books)
by

Jan Karon

4.09 avg rating — 23,275 ratings

Quotes by Jan Karon (?)

“As long as you have any floor space at all, you have room for books! Just make two stacks of books the same height, place them three or four feet apart, lay a board across them, and repeat. Voila! Bookshelves!”
― Jan Karon

tags: book-lover, books, literacy, reading

321 likes

“Lord, make me a blessing to someone today.”
― Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford

tags: prayer

160 likes

“I'd like you to know that I've forgiven him. Again and again. Once done, of course, back comes the Enemy to persecute and prosecute, and I must ante up to God and forgive yet again.”
― Jan Karon, Home to Holly Springs

tags: inspirational

80 likes

See all Jan Karon's quotes »

Polls

What shall we read in January, 2020? Pre 1980.

The Golden Apples, by Eudora Welty

18 votes 31.6%

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men / A Death in the Family / Shorter Fiction, by James Agee

13 votes 22.8%

Pudd'nhead Wilson, by Mark Twain

8 votes 14.0%

At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon

7 votes 12.3%

Weeds, Edith Summers Kelley

6 votes 10.5%

Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica, by Zora Neale Hurston

5 votes 8.8%

57 total votes

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Jan Karon’s Followers (2,544)

Jan Karon

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