Alabama Authors Directory

The Alabama Authors Directory is a resource for readers, editors, publishers, educators, librarians, program planners, and the simply curious to discover and learn more about writers with connections to the state.

Authors directly submit their entries via this form, including publications, availability for programs and workshops, and contact information. Easily searchable and updated, the directory will grow and become more valuable with each entry.

Alabama authors are writing in every genre, for every age and interest, and in just about every corner of the world. From the new and emerging to the underknown to the best known, the Alabama Authors Directory is a resource to discover writers and works that reflect our rich, lively literary culture.

All information is provided by authors or their representatives. Entries are published as submitted after review for format and appropriateness. AWF reserves the right to screen and deny any content deemed inappropriate.

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Alan Cockrell

Hometown: Tuscaloosa, Alabama Lives in: GURLEY, AL

Contact Information

  • Email: alanhcockrell@gmail.com

Address:

    • 260 MOUNTAIN LANE
      GURLEY, AL 35748
      United States
  • Phone: (256) 337-9097
  • Preferred Contact Method: Email, Form on My Website

 

Social Media

About Alan Cockrell

Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction

Available for: Readings, Workshops, School Programs, In Person, Remote

Bio: I am a retired USAF Lt.Col. and an airline captain. I have a geology degree from the University of Alabama. Inspired by the great aviation authors, Ernest Gann, Richard Bach, Antoine de Saint-Exupery and others of that tribe, I began writing in 1993 about my experience flying in the Persian Gulf War. That led to the publication of my first book, “Tail of the Storm.” Short pieces followed that garnered three awards. About that time I became a newspaper writer doing local community interest …Read More pieces. Then came a string of magazine articles, mostly about aviation. In the early 2000s I wrote a history of the oil and gas industry in the southern states, which resulted in “Drilling Ahead: The Quest for Oil in the Deep South.” While researching for that book I ran across a fascinating true story that led to my first novel, “The Restless Earth.” I’ve just published “Night of the Bear,” an aviation thriller co-authored with Richard Hess. I’m working on a memoir.

Works: Books:
Tail of the Storm (University of Alabama Press, 1995)
A personal memoir of flying missions in the Persian Gulf War.
Drilling Ahead: The Quest for Oil in the Deep South (University Press of
Mississippi, 2005)
A history of the development of the …Read More oil and gas industry in the southern states with emphasis on personal accounts of those who made it happen.
The Restless Earth (Wordcrafts Press, 2022)
A novel of an underdog’s rise to success, then failure, then self-discovery in a 1950s Alabama town, based on true events
Night of the Bear (Koehler Books, 2025)
An aviation thriller novel.
Periodicals:
Stories have appeared in Aviation History, Airline Pilot, AOPA Pilot, South African Journal of Military History, On Guard, Hemispheres
Positions:
Columnist, The Huntsville Times, January – December 1996
Media: Based on my published writing I appeared as guest commentator on Smithsonian TV’s “Air Warriors.” Season 11, episode 5.

Awards: Deep South Writers Conference, 1994, (Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana) Honorable Mention, Non-fiction (“For the Luv or Roses”)
Deep South Writers Conference, 1996, (Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana) Ethel Harvey Award for Non-fiction (“Discovery at …Read More Oscar’s Duster”)
Deep South Writers Conference, 1998, (Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana) Third Prize, fiction (“Jupiter 616”)

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