Charlaine Harris, creator of the Sookie Stackhouse books that inspired the HBO series True Blood, is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over twenty years. She was raised in the Mississippi River Delta area.

Harris created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first of these, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which now numbers nine titles, has been released worldwide. The most famous Charlaine Harris character, Sookie Stackhouse, proved to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new show for HBO based upon the books. He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008. It was an instant succes.