American author Robb Forman Dew has described writing as "a strange absorption about this alternate world and the way it mixes with your real life."

Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio

Mount Vernon, Ohio

Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 16,990 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is named after Mount Vernon, the plantation owned by George Washington.-History:...

, October 26, 1946, the daughter of Oliver Duane Forman and Helen Ransom Forman, Dew grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

, where her father set up his medical practice. She also spent a great deal of her childhood in Gambier, Ohio, where she visited and occasionally lived with her maternal grandparents, Robb Reavill and John Crowe Ransom

John Crowe Ransom

John Crowe Ransom was an American poet, essayist, magazine editor, and professor.-Life:...

. During that time she found herself surrounded by a wide range of poets and writers connected with the Kenyon Review, or who were friends, colleagues, or former students of her grandfather's. Her godfather was Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...

, who was a close friend of the family's.

She attended Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...

 but did not graduate. In 1968, she married Charles B. Dew. The couple moved to Columbia, Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

, in 1969, where Charles taught history at the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 at Columbia. They have two sons, Charles Stephen, born in 1971, and John Forman, born in 1973. The family moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts

Williamstown, Massachusetts

Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...

, in 1977, where Charles B. Dew is now the Ephraim Williams

Ephraim Williams

Ephraim Williams Jr. was a soldier from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was killed in the French and Indian War. He was the benefactor of Williams College, located in northwestern Massachusetts.-Early life:...

 Professor of American History at Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

.

Dew's first novel, Dale Loves Sophie to Death

Dale Loves Sophie to Death

Dale Loves Sophie to Death is the first novel by American author Robb Forman Dew. It won the National Book Award for "First Novel" in 1982. It's a domestic story that takes places over the course of several weeks in the 1970s in Ohio and Massachusetts...

, was published in 1981 and won the National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 in 1982. She has taught at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, has received 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...

, and was awarded an honorary degree by Kenyon College

Kenyon College

Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...

in 2007. Her latest novel is Being Polite to Hitler.

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