Pam Conrad was born June 18, 1947, in New York City, to Robert and Doris Stampf. She has two brothers, David and Jonathan, and a younger sister, Missy. Conrad began writing when she was seven and ill with the chicken pox. Her mother gave her colored pencils and paper for drawing, but Conrad wrote poetry instead. Although she continued to write poetry and fiction throughout her childhood and adolescence, Conrad's real aspiration was to become a dancer. To this end, she enrolled in New York City's High School of Performing Arts. Her marriage to Robert Conrad in 1967, one year after high school graduation, and the birth of two daughters, Johanna (1971) and Sarah (1974), placed her creative energies on hold for the next few years.

When Sarah was three-and-one-half years old, Conrad decided to go to college, initially at Hofstra University, and finally at the New School for...