There's something very distinctive and compelling about Southern American Literature. Its lush settings, romantic atmosphere and touches of decadence reflect a culture that doesn't seem to exist above the Mason-Dixon line. The South has produced countless literary classics, many of which have been transferred to film. This Spotlight, focusing on several of these movie versions, is hosted by John Grisham, a native of Arkansas, graduate of the University of Mississippi and author of many best-selling legal thrillers set mostly in the South. Nine of his novels have been adapted to film including The Firm, The Client and The Pelican Brief.

Although born in Missouri, Mark Twain is considered an essential author of Southern literature, especially with what many consider The Great American Novel: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, memorably filmed in 1939 with Mickey Rooney as Huck. An even bigger event of that movie year was Gone With the Wind, David O. Selznick's magnificent screen treatment of Margaret Mitchell's novel of the Old South. Davis Grubb's The Night of the Hunter, filmed in 1955 and brilliantly directed by Charles Laughton, represents the Gothic horror element of Southern storytelling. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) also has its scary moments yet captures Harper Lee's gentle, nostalgic memories of her childhood in small-town Alabama.

Another Alabama-raised writer, Truman Capote, perfected the art of the non-fiction novel with In Cold Blood, the story of a brutal family murder in Kansas that was filmed by director Richard Brooks in 1967. Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), based on the novel by Georgia-born Carson McCullers, spins a tale of obsession and dark desires at a Southern military base. Pat Conroy, also born in Georgia, is the author of several best-selling novels including The Prince of Tides, the story of a dysfunctional South Carolina family that was filmed in 1991 under the direction of Barbra Streisand.