Maureen Howard facts for kids

Maureen Theresa Howard (born Kearns; June 28, 1930 – March 13, 2022) was an American writer. She wrote novels and memoirs, which are stories about her own life. Her books often featured women as the main characters. They were also known for their creative and new ways of telling stories. Many of her books focused on the experiences of Irish Americans.

Maureen Howard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She went to college at Smith College. Besides being a writer, she also taught writing and literature. She taught at well-known universities like Yale University and Columbia University.

Howard's books explored many important ideas. These included the role of family, social class, and how history shapes who we are. She also wrote about the experiences of women in America and the role of Catholicism in the lives of Irish Americans. She won several awards for her writing, including the National Book Critics Circle Award. She was also nominated three times for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Maureen Howard's Life Story

Early Years

Maureen Howard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on June 28, 1930. Her father, William L. Kearns, was an immigrant from Ireland. He worked as a detective. Her mother, Loretta (born Burns), stayed home to care for the family. Loretta's father was also an Irish immigrant who became wealthy from land and an asphalt business.

Howard said her mother helped her discover the arts. Her mother enrolled her in lessons for ballet, piano, and public speaking. This was different from her experiences with her father. Because her family needed money, Howard started working at the local public library when she was sixteen.

Education and Family Life

Howard attended Smith College and graduated in 1952. She sometimes felt that her education at Smith was too old-fashioned for women at the time. However, she stayed connected to her college throughout her life.

After college, she worked in advertising. In 1954, she married Daniel F. Howard. He was an English professor. They had one daughter together. Her first marriage ended in 1967. The next year, she married David J. Gordon, who was also a college professor. This marriage also ended. In 1981, she married Mark Probst, a lawyer and writer, who passed away in 2018.

Writing Career and Books

In 1960, Maureen Howard published her first novel, Not a Word About Nightingales. The book was about a professor who leaves his family and job while in Italy. It was first published in the United Kingdom and then in America in 1962. It didn't become a bestseller, but critics liked it. A critic from The New York Times called it "delicious" and "cool."

Howard's second novel, Bridgeport Bus, came out in 1965. This book was written like a series of journal entries. It told the story of an Irish-American woman who leaves Bridgeport for New York City. There, she tries to live an independent life. Kirkus Reviews praised it for its "wicked humor." Like her first book, it wasn't widely read at first. But over time, critics began to admire it greatly.

1910 postcard image of Bridgeport, Howard's hometown and an important location in her writing

In the late 1960s, Howard began teaching. She taught literature, drama, and creative writing. She taught at places like The New School for Social Research and Columbia University.

In 1974, her third novel, Before My Time, was published. Critics praised it. One critic called Howard an "extraordinarily talented writer." She then edited a book about American women writers in 1977.

Howard's next book was a memoir called Facts of Life (1978). A memoir is a book about a part of the author's own life. Instead of telling her life story in order, she organized it by different themes. This book won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1978.

Howard continued to write and teach. Her novel Grace Abounding (1982) was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her next two novels, Expensive Habits (1986) and Natural History (1992), also received this nomination. Natural History was set in her hometown of Bridgeport. A reviewer called it "a compelling tour de force."

In 1993, Howard joined the faculty at the Columbia University School of the Arts. She then started writing a series of four books inspired by the four seasons. These were A Lover's Almanac (1998), The Silver Screen (2004), The Rags of Time (2009), and Big as Life: Three Tales for Spring (2001). One critic called the series "a beautifully integrated whole."

Maureen Howard's Family

Maureen Howard's brother, George Kearns, was a literature professor. He wrote books about the poet Ezra Pound. Howard's daughter, Loretta Howard, owns an art gallery in New York City.

Maureen Howard passed away on March 13, 2022, in Manhattan. She was 91 years old.

Maureen Howard's Writing Style and Ideas

Howard's writings have been studied by many scholars. Her original papers, including her manuscripts and letters, are kept at Columbia University.

Writing Style

Maureen Howard wrote both fiction (made-up stories) and nonfiction (true stories). Most of her books were novels. Her books are often called "experimental." This means she used unusual ways to tell stories. For example, she would shift between different viewpoints or tell events out of order. One scholar described her narrative style as "unconventional and challenging."

Critics noted that Howard's novels often focused less on a clear plot. Instead, they tried to capture characters and a collection of small moments. Her writing was known for being poetic and sometimes ironic. She was described as an "elegant stylist."

Main Ideas in Her Books

Scholars often focus on how Howard wrote about the Irish-American experience. This included themes of identity, family, history, and religion. One scholar said that religion and family were the most important ideas in her books. Even when her characters moved away from Catholicism, they often found new "religions" in everyday activities.

Identity was another major theme for Howard. Her books showed how understanding one's family and ethnic history is key to knowing who you are. If you don't explore your past, your identity might feel "shapeless." Howard's work showed that when you honestly look at the past, you can grow as a person.

Howard also focused on the experiences of women. Most of her novels had female main characters. She explored how women balanced their personal lives with their work. She also showed how women tried to create art while dealing with influences from others.

Writers Who Inspired Her

Maureen Howard admired many writers. These included Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, and Flannery O'Connor. Critics also believed that Henry James influenced her work.

Awards and Honors

Maureen Howard received many awards for her writing. Here are some of the honors she received for her overall work and for specific books.

Honors for Her Overall Work

• Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts (1967)
• Bunting Fellowship of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute (1967)
• Honorary doctorate, University of Bridgeport (1985)
• National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1988)
• Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship (1988)
• Library Lion honoree, New York Public Library (1993)
• Award in Literature, American Academy of Arts and Letters (1997)
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Elected Member (1998)
• Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center Fellowship of the New York Public Library (2003)
• Honorary doctorate, Sacred Heart University (2006)
• Katherine Anne Porter Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2012)

Honors for Individual Books

• O. Henry Award for "Bridgeport Bus" (1962)
• O. Henry Award for "Sherry" (1966)
• National Book Critics Circle Award for Facts of Life (1978)

Her book Facts of Life was also a finalist for the National Book Award. Her novels Grace Abounding, Expensive Habits, and Natural History were all finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Howard's work has been included in collections like Modern Irish American Fiction: A Reader. She was also invited to speak at many places, including Rutgers University.