| Joan Lowery Nixon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 February 1927 Los Angeles, California |
| Died | 28 June 2003 Houston, Texas |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Young Adult Fiction |
Joan Lowery Nixon (3 February 1927,-28 June 2003) was a prolific American journalist and author, specializing in historical fiction and mysteries for children and young adults.
Biography
Joan Lowery was born in Los Angeles in 1927. She received a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in 1947. She taught for a time at various schools in L.A., before becoming a full-time writer. She died of pancreatic cancer in Houston Texas in June of 2003.
Career
Nixon's books were noted for frequently having strong, self-sufficient young women as lead characters. She also co-authored several popular science books with her geologist husband, Hershell. Nixon won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, and had five additional nominations. Twice, she won the California Young Reader Medal of the California Library Association. She also won the Western Writers of America's "Golden Spur Award" two times, and received the Texas Institute of Letters Award. She is the only person ever to win an Edgar for Best Juvenile Mystery four times. Her novel, The Other Side Of Dark, was loosely adapted into the 1995 TV movie Awake To Danger; it starred Tori Spelling and Michael Gross. (Another novel, The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, is similar to the 1996 Moment of Truth movie Abduction of Innocence, which starred Katie Wright, Lucie Arnaz, Dirk Benedict, and Lochlyn Munro.)
