Connie May Fowler and Thomas Merton, share what nationality?
American
Title: Thomas Merton
Passage: Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Catholic writer, theologian and mystic.  A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion.  In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis.
Title: Connie May Fowler
Passage: Connie May Fowler (born January 3, 1960 to parents of multi-cultural backgrounds) is an American novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter, and poet.  Her semi-autobiographical novel, "Before Women had Wings", received the 1996 Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Buck Award (League of American Pen Women).  She adapted the novel for Oprah Winfrey and the subsequent Emmy-winning film starred Winfrey, Ellen Barkin, Julia Stiles, and Tina Majorino.  "Remembering Blue" received the Chautauqua South Literary Award.  Three of her novels were Dublin International Literary Award nominees.  Her other novels include "Sugar Cage" and "River of Hidden Dreams".  "The Problem with Murmur Lee" was Redbook’s premier book club selection.  Her memoir, "When Katie Wakes", explores her family’s generational cycle of domestic violence.  "How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly", a novel oft compared to Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" in term of its structure, was published in 2010.  Her latest book, a memoir titled "A Million Fragile bones," will be published April 20, 2017 by Twisted Road Publications.  It explores her life on an isolated barrier island and the horrific impact and aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill.  Her books have been translated into eighteen languages (http://www.conniemayfowler.com/about.html).
Title: Before Women Had Wings
Passage: Before Women Had Wings is a 1997 television film, based on the story by Connie May Fowler about a mother whose abusive husband commits suicide.  She then starts to violently abuse her two daughters.  It is only then that a kindly black woman becomes good friends with her youngest daughter and helps the daughter escape her tortured life.  The film stars Ellen Barkin, Oprah Winfrey, Tina Majorino, and Julia Stiles.  Barkin won an Emmy for her role.
Connie May Fowler Thomas Merton