Pamela Porter
| Pamela Porter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pamela Paige Porter July 14, 1956 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Period | 2004–present |
| Genre | Poetry, children's fiction |
| Notable works | The Crazy Man |
| Spouse | Rob Porter |
| Children | 2 |
Pamela Paige Porter (born July 14, 1956) is a Canadian novelist and poet. She was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has also lived in Texas, Louisiana, Washington and Montana. She emigrated to Canada with her husband Rob Porter, from the fourth generation of a Saskatchewan farm family, and resides in North Saanich, British Columbia. She has received praise for her young adult novels, especially The Crazy Man. Her poetry won the Prism International Poetry Prize, the Vallum Magazine Poetry Prize, and has appeared in literary magazines in Canada and the U.S.
Pamela lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico until half way through kindergarten. Her father, who worked for an insurance company, was transferred, and then the family moved to Dallas, Texas. When Pamela was 12 years old her father was transferred to Monroe, Louisiana, here she attended Robert E. Lee Junior High. Pamela remembers her school as being very strict, she had to address all her elders as "Yes, Ma'am, No, Ma'am, Yes, Sir, No, Sir." Pamela was first introduced to racism at her school when everyone treated the African American staff with no respect by calling them by their first names and playing around with them. Pamela recalls becoming very interested in world politics and the Civil Rights movement by watching the evening news every day. Pamela was first introduced to poetry while flipping through the back of her English Language Arts book in class. Pamela would collect little pithy things, pick up books from the library, books of poetry and pieces that usually were short, the length she felt she could read. Pamela was also introduced to poems by Robert Frost, particularly "Desert Places". Pamela believed she was always destined to be an author, she remembers always wanting to play the game "Authors" instead of "Scrabble" as a child.
Pamela finished her undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University. She now holds an MFA in poetry writing from the University of Montana. When Pamela first entered university, she was very interested in languages. She studied the German language for a few years and was interested in becoming fluent in some other languages and becoming a translator. Pamela also is an accomplished musician, noted particularly for her abilities in piano, guitar, and singing, and was encouraged by university faculty to major in music. Pamela was 19 years old when she took her first writing course with John Skoyles. Other teachers were Jack Myers, Richard Hugo, and later, Lorna Crozier, and Patrick Lane, and soon after earning her MFA she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference in Vermont. Pamela met her husband in a bell choir. Pamela and Rob traveled a lot together before having children; they lived in New Mexico at the National Solar Observatory near Cloudcroft,and then moved to Seattle before moving to Ulm, Montana to be closer to Rob's family who were in Calgary at that time. The family now resides near Sidney, British Columbia. Pamela has been a professor at the University of Victoria as a sessional instructor. For generations, her family has gone to Saskatchewan every summer to work on the farm.
...
Wikipedia