Stuart Reb Donald was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. As a child his creativity was his calling card. Stuart was always fashioning his own toys out of boxes, Styrofoam, or anything else he could find. At the age of ten he joined his school band and thus began his long romance with music. At the age of 13 he published his first article, a clip about fishing for the magazine Alabama Sportsman.

Stuart’s talent for the trombone eventually landed him a music scholarship to a small college in Mississippi where he added guitar, bass guitar, piano, and a number of other instruments to his list of proficiencies. He joined a number of rock bands and developed a reputation as a poignant songwriter, but reading a book much less writing one was the last thing from his mind.

When Stuart was 21 a fellow guitarist gave him a copy of Richard Bach’s classic novella Jonathon Livingston Seagull. Unbeknownst to anyone an author was born. He devoured the book in a matter of hours then it was on to other books - classics, serial novels, and comedies - anything he could get his hands on. He had a lifetime of reading to catch up on.

Early in 1995 the seeds of a story began to take root in his mind. Stuart, now living in Nashville, Tennessee, would lose sleep just thinking about the plot in his mind. Finally, he purchased a notebook and began to handwrite his first manuscript. When the notebook was full he borrowed a friend’s typewriter and would annoy his roommates by typing all night into dawn. The result of that first seed of inspiration is the recently released A More Perfect Union available from Lulu publishing.

Stuart began his love affair with writing the way he had begun his relationship with reading, at break neck speed. After finishing that first novel he went on a short story tare, then it was screenplays, and most recently he has combined his love of writing with his passion for gourmet foods in Amigeauxs: Mexican/Creole Cuisine, a cookbook published by 4 Star Publishing.

Stuart has become a contributing writer to The Lagniappe, a cultural newspaper in his hometown of Mobile as well as having been published on a number of web sites including shortstories.com, zoetrope.com and most recently globalchefs.com.

Stuart’s writing style is both straightforward and lyrical. He often blurs the line between narrator and poet, but above all Stuart is an excellent storyteller, a gift he attributes to his father. His ability to put into words the mannerisms and folkways of the Deep South is reminiscent of William Faulkner. He possesses a singular wit that transcends well to the written page. One day Stuart may stand shoulder to shoulder with the other great Mobile-born authors, Albert Murray and Winston Groom.