Pam Houston (born January 9, 1962 in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city, capital city (New Jersey), city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.

) is an American author of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

, novels and

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

s. She is best known for her first book, Cowboys Are My Weakness (1992), which has been translated into nine languages, and which won the 1993

Western States Book Award Western States Book Award honored notable works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and translation written and published in the Western United States. The award was given annually from 1984 until 2002. Lifetime-achievement awards were also p ...

."Pam Houston." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Biography in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. Gale Document Number: GALE, H1000115007
/ref>Updike, Katrina Kenison ''The Best American Short Stories of the Century.'' p 792. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000. on GoogleBooks. January 4, 2014.
/ref> Also, "Cowboys Are My Weakness" was named a

New York Times Notable Book ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read ...

in 1992.Cheuse, Alan. "Book Review: 'Contents May Have Shifted'." West, Kathryn. "Pam Houston." American Short-Story Writers Since World War II: Fourth Series. Ed. Patrick Meanor and Joseph McNicholas. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 244. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. Gale Document Number: GALE, H1200010297
/ref> Houston's stories have been selected for volumes of

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in ...

, The

O. Henry Award The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...

s, The

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors ar ...

, and Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is a winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA award for contemporary fiction, and The Evil Companions Literary Award, and multiple teaching awards. Major themes in Houston's work include relationships between men and women, the

outdoors Outdoor(s) may refer to: *Wilderness *Natural environment *Outdoor cooking *Outdoor education *Outdoor equipment *Outdoor fitness *Outdoor literature *Outdoor recreation *Outdoor Channel, an American pay television channel focused on the outdoors ...

, animals and

childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, a ...

.Debbie. "Houston, Pam. Contents May Have Shifted." Library Journal 1 Jan. 2012: 95. Biography in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. Gale Document Number: GALE, A276895410
/ref>"Houston's heroine curiously vulnerable: Waltzing the cat." Globe & Mail Toronto, Canada 17 Oct. 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. Gale Document Number: GALE, A30013821
/ref>

Personal life

Houston was raised in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,3 ...

. Her parents were an actress and a businessman. She attended

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary a ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, graduating in 1983 with a BA in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

. She held several odd jobs before entering a

graduate program Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and s ...

at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of D ...

. She took up an appointment as the Lois and Willard Mackey Chair in Creative Writing at

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and ...

in the academic year 2002-2003. She currently teaches in the MFA program at U.C. Davis, and at the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. She directs the nonprofit Writing By Writers which puts on non-university based writing conferences across the American West and in France. Houston currently lives on a ranch at 9,000' above sea level in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, near the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition Th ...

of the

Rio Grande River The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

Books

* "Cowboys Are My Weakness". Paperback: 171 pages, Publisher: Washington Square Press (February 1, 1993), * "Waltzing the Cat". Paperback: 288 pages, Publisher: Washington Square Press; First Edition (September 1, 1999), * "A Little More About Me". Paperback: 304 pages, Publisher: Washington Square Press (October 1, 2000), * "Sight Hound: A Novel". Paperback: 352 pages, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (January 17, 2006), * "Contents May Have Shifted: A Novel". Hardcover: 320 pages, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (February 6, 2012), , WorldCat author page. January 9, 2013
/ref> * ''Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country'', Hardcover: 288 pages, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, (January 29, 2019)

Education & Interests

B.A. (Denison University,

Granville, Ohio Granville is a village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is east of Columbus, the state capital, and west of Newark ...

) 1983;

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

, University of Utah, 1992; Creative writing (fiction,

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with bei ...

and

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...

, contemporary fiction, the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

, wilderness literatureDepartment of English - UC Davis profile
/ref>

References

External links

* * ''Radio Interview with Pam Houston on "Read First, Ask Later" (Ep. 19)
/span>'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Pam Living people People from Trenton, New Jersey American non-fiction writers American fiction writers University of California, Davis faculty 1962 births People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania