Pamela Porter

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.

Biography

Early life

Porter lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico until halfway through kindergarten. Her father, who worked for an insurance company, was transferred, and then the family moved to Dallas, Texas. When Porter was 12 years old, her father was transferred to Monroe, Louisiana, where she attended Robert E. Lee Junior High. She 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." She 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. She recalls becoming very interested in world politics and the civil rights movement by watching the evening news every day.

Porter was first introduced to poetry while flipping through the back of her English language arts book in class. She picked up books from the library, books of poetry and pieces that usually were short, the length she felt she could read. She was also introduced to poems by Robert Frost, particularly "Desert Places". She believed she was always destined to be an author, and remembers always wanting to play the game "Authors" instead of "Scrabble" as a child.

Later life

Porter finished her undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University. She holds an MFA in poetry writing from the University of Montana. When she 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.

Porter 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. Soon after earning her MFA, she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference in Vermont.

Porter met her husband in a bell choir. She and Rob traveled a lot together before having children; they lived in Sunspot, New Mexico, and then moved to Seattle before moving to Ulm, Montana to be closer to Rob's family, who were in Calgary.

Porter has been a professor at the University of Victoria as a sessional instructor.

For generations, Rob's family has gone to Saskatchewan every summer to work on the farm.

Analysis

Influences

Pamela Porter has said that her first influence was the Bible.

Cultural impact

Porter's work has had a great impact on juvenile audiences. Young readers voted The Crazy Man across Canada as their favourite book of the year. 2006 Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children 2006 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award 2006 Geoffrey Bilson Historical Fiction Award for Children 2006 Jane Addams Foundation Honor Book 2006 Texas Institute of Letters Friends of the Austin Public Library Award for Young Adult Book 2007 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award 2007 OLA Golden Oak Award 2007 Rocky Mountain Book Award 2008 Red Cedar Book Award

For other works 2009 New Mexico Book Award for Yellow Moon, Apple Moon 2010 Vallum Magazine Poem of the Year Award