Confessions of Nat Turner, The (1967) – Encyclopedia Virginia
The book that put Nat Turner on the cover of Newsweek magazine in the autumn of 1967 had its origins in the oral and written traditions of Tidewater Virginia. Styron traced his interest in the subject of slavery to the stories his grandmother—who had owned slaves—told him as a child growing up in Newport News. He first read about Nat Turner in a grammar school textbook in the mid-1930s. After reading the original “Confessions” late in the 1940s, Styron began to consider the possibilities of a novel. He gathered source materials and pitched the idea to his editor early in the 1950s. H...
Source: encyclopediavirginia.org