Joan Lowery Nixon (February 3, 1927 – June 28, 2003) was an American journalist and author, specializing in historical fiction and mysteries for children and

young adults A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

Biography

Joan Lowery was born on February 3, 1927, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California. In 1947, she received a degree in journalism from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. At USC, she met her husband, Hershell, a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

officer and a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

. At USC she was a member of

Kappa Delta Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia. Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, whic ...

sorority. She taught school in Los Angeles before starting her family. In 1964 her first book for children, ''The Mystery of Hurricane Castle'', was published. Her son, Joe Nixon, is a Houston lawyer, who was from 1995 to 2007 a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

from District 133 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Nixon, her husband, and their children lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, before finally settling in the Memorial and Tanglewood area of Houston, Texas. She died of pancreatic cancer in Houston on June 28, 2003.

Work

Nixon wrote more than 140 books, including '' The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore'' (1979). She co-authored several science books with her geologist husband Hershell Nixon. Nixon was the only author to win four

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

s from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Awa ...

, and had five additional nominations. She won the California Young Reader Medal of the California Library Association twice. She also won the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include histori ...

Golden Spur Award Spur Awards are literary prizes awarded annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...

twice, and received the Texas Institute of Letters Award. Her book ''Land of Hope'' is used in some middle schools. Her novel '' The Other Side of Dark'' was made into the 1995 TV movie '' Awake To Danger'', starring

Tori Spelling Victoria Davey Spelling (born May 16, 1973) is an American actress and author. Her first major role was Donna Martin on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', beginning in 1990. She has appeared in made for television films, including '' A Friend to Die F ...

and Michael Gross.

References

External links

Short autobiography
at Scholastic Teachers
Joan Lowery Nixon Collection
at University of Minnesota CLRC, with biographical sketch * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Joan Lowery 1927 births 2003 deaths American children's writers 20th-century American women journalists American mystery writers Edgar Award winners Deaths from pancreatic cancer Writers from Houston Writers from Los Angeles USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni Deaths from cancer in Texas American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers Women mystery writers Journalists from Texas Novelists from Texas 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American women