Kathryn Stockett's First Novel Thrills Fans and Critics Alike
 Kathryn Stockett, ΑΖ, was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, where one of her closest companions was her family’s maid, a black woman named Demetrie. She cooked, cleaned and took care of Kathryn and her siblings, the white children.
She recalls, “Demetrie started working for my grandmother in 1955, and I loved her dearly. She wasn’t our mother, so it wasn’t her job to discipline us or make us sit up straight.
She just played with us, talked to us, loved us. There was a point in my childhood, after my parents divorced, when I didn’t feel like I was worth much. I remember Demetrie standing me in the mirror and telling me, ‘You are beautiful, you are important.’ That is an incredible
gift to give a child who doesn’t think much of herself.”
It was her relationship with Demetrie that inspired Kathryn to pen The Help, a story about three women – one white, two black – whose friendship crosses the barriers of race, class and age as the momentous events of the civil rights movement unfold around them.
With her first novel steadily climbing the New York Times’ bestseller’s list, Kathryn credits her creative writing professor at the University of Alabama, Yesho Atil, for teaching her the craft and giving her the freedom to use any word she wanted in her writing so long as she could find it in the dictionary. “That’s the rule I followed when I wrote the dialect for The Help,” says Kathryn. “If it set off the spell-checker, generally I didn’t use it. Do note, though, that I manually added ‘y’all’ to my spell-checker as acceptable.”
During her years in the Alpha Zeta Chapter, Kathryn made lifelong friends, considered the Phi Mu house her “haven” and enjoyed the many social aspects of Greek life. “My favorite party was the caveman swap with the Phi Delta Thetas. Somewhere there is a picture of me
swathed in fake animal fur with a chicken bone in my hair.”
When asked what advice she would give to her fellow Phi Mu sisters who are chasing their own dreams, Kathryn replies, “Be tenacious! I received at least 45 rejections from agents when trying to get The Help published. The more they told me no, the harder I tried. It doesn’t make for an easy life, but it works.”
And that tenacity did indeed work. Hailed for her ability to capture the complexities of
race relations in the south with authenticity, wit and tenderness, Kathryn expects that a
movie based on the book will be in theaters within three years. “The option for the movie
rights is in the hands of Tate Taylor and Brunson Green, both Los Angeles filmmakers
who grew up in Jackson. The script began circulation to studios in September of this year.”
While on the road promoting her book, Kathryn is often reminded of her Phi Mu roots when sisters come out to support her. The warmth and enthusiasm for her work is heart-warming. Kathryn says, “I am amazed and grateful every time I see a Phi Mu at a reading!”
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