Local Author Spotlight

December 01, 2012

Kansas City author Whitney Terrell’s award-winning novel, The King of King’s County, is inspired by his hometown’s colorful past. Though a work of fiction, the plot draws heavily on details from the JC Nichols family’s rise to power and influence.

The Kirkus Review calls King of King’s County, "…an honest and unsentimental post mortem for America’s cities…also a moving and original coming-of-age story. A grand work of fiction, epic in scope and intimate in detail."

Whitney Terrell was born and raised in Kansas City. After earning degrees at Princeton University and Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he returned to his hometown to teach at the University of Missouri as Writer-in-Residence. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Kansas City Star, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He embedded with the 22nd infantry in Baghdad, an experience he covered for the Washington Post Magazine.

Check out his novels, The Huntsman and King of King’s County.

Laura M.
Kearney Branch