Pamela Jane Ditchoff (born September 21, 1950) is an American novelist.

Life and work

Pamela Jane Reed was born on September 21, 1950, in East Lansing, Michigan, to Beatrice Watson (Porter) and Ronald Ernest Reed. She attended Fairview School and later East Lansing High School before graduating from

Lansing Community College Lansing Community College is a public community college with its main campus in Lansing, Michigan. Founded in 1957, the college's main campus is located on an urban, site in downtown Lansing spanning seven city blocks approximately two block ...

(associate degree, 1979). In a 2016 interview with the student newspaper at Lansing Community College, she described her work on the school newspaper and the resources made available to her while she attended the community college. After Lansing Community College, she moved to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

where she earned a B.A. in 1982 and an M.A. in 1985. In the mid-1980s, her early fiction and poetry was published in various literary magazines. Ditchoff's first novel, ''The Mirror of Monsters and Prodigies'' (

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

, 1995) is a semi-fictional oral history of dwarves, giants, conjoined twins and

bearded women A bearded lady (or bearded woman) is a female with a naturally occurring beard normally due to the condition known as hirsutism or hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis causes people of either sex to develop excess hair over their entire body (including ...

. The book was reviewed on NPR's '' All Things Considered'' and '' The New York Times''. Giving the novel one out of four stars, Rebecca E. Roberts wrote for '' Detroit Free Press'' that ''Mirror'' "ultimately amounts to snippets of history, thinly coated with imagined dialogue and fiddled events". It was considered "well researched and well written" when reviewed by ALA Booklist as a debut novel. Ditchoff's second novel ''Seven Days & Seven Sins'' (2003) was published by

Shaye Areheart The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into ...

and reviewed by '' The Washington Post''. Set in Lansing, the novel is composed of chapters that each function as standalone short stories. Ditchoff's third novel, ''Mrs. Beast'' (Stay Thirsty Press, 2009), is about the lives of the Grimm's Fairy Tales princesses after marriage. Ditchoff's sequel to ''Mrs. Beast'' entitled ''Princess Beast'' was published by Stay Thirsty Press in September 2010. Ditchoff's fifth novel, ''Phoebe's Way'' (ECW Press, 2014), is the story of a Saint John Ambulance therapy dog. Ditchoff recorded an oral history interview for Michigan State's Michigan Writers Series.

Works

Novels

*''The Mirror of Monsters and Prodigies'', 1995 *''Seven Days & Seven Sins'', 2003 *''Mrs. Beast'', 2009 *''Princess Beast'', 2010 *''Phoebe's Way'', 2014 *Beatrice Penny Survived 2021

Non-fiction

*''Poetry: One, Two, Three'', 1989 *''Lexigram Learns America’s Capitals'', 1992

Awards

*Michigan Addy Award for Excellence as producer/director of Artpeace, 1984 * John Ciardi Scholar, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, 1991 *Winner,

Chicago Review ''Chicago Review'' is a literary magazine founded in 1946 and published quarterly in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago. The magazine features contemporary poetry, fiction, and criticism, often publishing works in translation and ...

Award in Fiction awarded to Ditchoff for her work ''Prodigies'', 1991 *Walter Dakin Fellow, Sewanee Writers' Conference, 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ditchoff, Pamela 1950 births 21st-century American women American women writers Living people