Olive Ann Burns

Olive Ann Burns (1924–1990) was an American author and journalist from Georgia, best known for her novel *Cold Sassy Tree* (1984), inspired by family stories of rural Southern life at the turn of the 20th century. A former columnist for the *Atlanta Journal* under the pseudonym 'Amy Larkin,' she began writing the book in 1975 amid a cancer diagnosis, completing it after nearly a decade despite her illness. She died before finishing its sequel, *Leaving Cold Sassy*, which was published posthumously in 1992.