Pricilla Jean "P.J." Cowan is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

best known for her work in

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. Born Pricilla Jean Ball on December 2, 1933, in a log cabin in

Rio Grande County, Colorado Rio Grande County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,539. The county seat is Del Norte. The county is named for the Rio Grande (Spanish language for "Big River"), which flows throug ...

, in the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

mountains, she is the author of 15 books which are available worldwide. Her works include: ''The Adventures of Neddy and Teddy Fairy'', ''What Do You Feed an Imaginary Dragon?'' and ''PJ's Bedtime Stories''. Her first book, ''Michael O'Brian and the Magic Hat'' was released in 2008.

Early life

The 1930s were depression years, and there was no money for books. Cowan's mother would make up stories to entertain her two daughters. From age three until age nine, Cowan lived at Sacred Heart Orphanage and Boarding School on Sprague Street in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

, where she struggled with

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

, which prevented her from being able to read. As the nuns read to the class, she memorized the stories she liked until she knew them by heart. These experiences gave her a lasting love of the art of storytelling. Pricilla attended Granite High School in Salt Lake City. In her senior year she met William Loveland. they were married in 1952 in Salt Lake City. They had two children, Jolene Marie and Michael Bruce Loveland. They divorced in 1955. She later married Ralph Colvin in Portland Oregon. they had five sons. Kelly James, Ralph Clifford, Steven Daniel, Robert Henry, and Thomas Harrison Colvin. In 1977, she met and married Vernon Dale Cowan; they celebrated their 40th year in March 2017. Vernon currently resides in Memory Care unit. In July 2016, she moved into the Legacy Retirement residence in South Jordon, Utah, where she continues to write her stories, and donate her books Cowan has 11 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. The grandchildren range in age from 3 months to 19 years. The “greats” are widely scattered, so PJ and husband Vernon don’t see them often. The stories are her way of giving them a great grannies advice and council. It is her wish that they pass the books on to their own children.

Writing career

Cowan's writing began in earnest at age 72. In the beginning, she self-published on Lulu.com and while working with them met LK Gardner-Griffie, who went on to become her mentor. Gardner-Griffie is now a celebrated two-time winner of the teen awards for her series Misfit McCabe. Cowan published her first book, ''Michael O'Brian and the Magic Hat'' at the age of 74. She had created the story to entertain her great-grandchildren and was encouraged by the response that it got as she began to share the story publicly. The book received favorable reviews and so she began to write and publish more books. To date, she has published 40 children's books. Seven have been translated into Spanish by Lana Kleypas. Several of her books, including ''Silly Little Stories'' have been illustrated by

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

artist Jasen Strong/Alfie Vann, illustrated: 9 books. Other artists include: Mike Motz of Canada, who along with several of his talented crew are responsible for the first ten books. The remaining books were illustrated by

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

artist Ray Sewell, Jason Kleypas of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Julia Berman of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Tristen Kaa, Cam Parsons, Morgan Victoria, Steven Livingston, Katrina Reeves, and Michael Brewster of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Cowan's books are printed by Mira Digital Publishing.

Charity

In 2009, Cowan decided that she wanted to share her stories with as many children as possible. She reached out to her mentor LK Gardner-Griffie, who suggested she donate them to shelters. Gardner-Griffie suggested that Cowan get in touch with another author, Linda Welch, author of the paranormal series Whisperings. Welch, who was managing a Shelter in Utah provided Cowan with a list, and she began donating copies of her books to young children in homeless shelters. Cowan then reached out to family, friends, and cyber friends for more names of shelters, day care, children's hospitals, and other organizations. The list has grown to include 32 organizations in Oregon,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, Colorado,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, P. J. 1933 births Living people 21st-century American women writers American children's writers American women children's writers