Maureen Howard
Encyclopedia
Maureen Howard is an American
writer, editor, and lecturer known for her award-winning autobiography Facts of Life.
She was born Maureen Kearns in Bridgeport, Connecticut
. Her father William L. Kearns worked for the State's Attorney's Office as a detective where he was assigned to the Harold Israel
case. Howard attended Smith College
, graduating with a B.A. in 1952. After graduation she worked in advertising for several years and married Professor Daniel F. Howard in 1954. In 1960, Howard published her first novel Not a Word about Nightingales which tells the story of a New England
girl who is sent to Perugia
, Italy
to retrieve her father who is on an extended sabbatical. The book was a bestseller and she followed it with several other novels set in New England with Irish-American protagonists. She divorced Daniel Howard in 1967 and married David J. Gordon the following year. In 1967 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
. The same year she was named a Radcliffe Institute Fellow
. During the late 1960s and 1970s she taught literature, drama and creative writing
at The New School
and UCSB and lectured at CUNY and Columbia University
. In 1978 she published her autobiography Facts of Life which won a National Book Critics Circle Award
. She continued writing novels and taught English at Amherst College
. In 1981 she married author and stockbroker Mark Probst. She was named a fellow by the Ingram Merrill Foundation in 1988. In 1993, she was awarded the Literary Lion Award by the New York Public Library
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, editor, and lecturer known for her award-winning autobiography Facts of Life.
She was born Maureen Kearns in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. Her father William L. Kearns worked for the State's Attorney's Office as a detective where he was assigned to the Harold Israel
Harold Israel
Harold Israel was a defendant wrongly accused of murdering a priest in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1924. The charges against Israel were dismissed by the prosecutor, Homer Stille Cummings, who later became Attorney General of the United States....
case. Howard attended Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, graduating with a B.A. in 1952. After graduation she worked in advertising for several years and married Professor Daniel F. Howard in 1954. In 1960, Howard published her first novel Not a Word about Nightingales which tells the story of a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
girl who is sent to Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to retrieve her father who is on an extended sabbatical. The book was a bestseller and she followed it with several other novels set in New England with Irish-American protagonists. She divorced Daniel Howard in 1967 and married David J. Gordon the following year. In 1967 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
. The same year she was named a Radcliffe Institute Fellow
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard is an educational institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the semiautonomous components of Harvard University. It is heir to the name and buildings of Radcliffe College, but unlike that historical institution, its focus is directed...
. During the late 1960s and 1970s she taught literature, drama and creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
and UCSB and lectured at CUNY and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. In 1978 she published her autobiography Facts of Life which won a National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
. She continued writing novels and taught English at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
. In 1981 she married author and stockbroker Mark Probst. She was named a fellow by the Ingram Merrill Foundation in 1988. In 1993, she was awarded the Literary Lion Award by the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
Awards
- 1978 - National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for General Nonfiction for Facts of Life - 1983 - Nomination for the PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionPEN/Faulkner Award for FictionThe PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to...
for Grace Abounding - 1987 - Nomination for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for Expensive Habits
- 1993 - Nomination for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for Natural History
- 1993 - Literary Lion Award
External links
- Maureen Howard biography (Google Cache)
- Summary of Howard's Novels by John Leonard