Lois Duncan

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Lois Duncan Steinmetz (born April 28, 1934 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † June 15, 2016 in Sarasota , Florida ) was an American writer who was best known as a children's and youth author.

life and work

Lois Duncan (left) on a motorboat, taken by her father (1950)

Lois Duncan grew up in Sarasota, Florida, the daughter of the well-known press photographer Joseph Janney Steinmetz. She is said to have started writing manuscripts for magazines at the age of ten; She sold her first story at the age of 13. She attended Duke University from 1952 to 1953, left it and married. She then lived as a housewife . During this time she continued to write works and magazine articles. She has published more than 300 articles in magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal , Redbook , McCall’s , Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest .

Duncan is best known for her exciting books for young people, which she has published regularly since the late 1950s. "With her novels published in the 1970s, Lois Duncan is considered the first ever female thriller writer in children's books," wrote her publishing group RandomHouse. Of her total of over 50 books, some were also made into films by Hollywood. The best known example is the film adaptation of their teenage thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) with the two sequels ( I still know what you did last summer , I will always know what you did last summer ). Lois Duncan publicly stated that she hates the films because the makers have turned her thoughtful book into a brutal slasher film . In 2009 her children's book Das Hundehotel was filmed.

Her first marriage, in which she had three children, ended in divorce. Duncan moved to Albuquerque , New Mexico to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico , where she received her bachelor's degree in English in 1977 . In 1965 she married Don Arquette, with whom she remained married until her death in 2016 and had two more children. In 1989, the writer's youngest daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, was shot dead in her car in Albuquerque. In the book Who Killed My Daughter? Duncan reports the facts and assumptions about the unsolved case. In 2013 Duncan published the sequel to this book under the title One to the Wolves , in which she wrote about the further course of her search for her daughter's murderer. To date, however, the case has not been resolved.

She received the 1992 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her services in youth literature . In 2015 she received the Edgar Allan Poe Award (Grand Masters Award) for her life's work.

Works

The works of Duncan in chronological order:

  • Love Song of Joyce (1957)
  • Debutante Hill (1957)
  • A Promise of Joyce (1958)
  • A Littlest One in the Family (1959) - picture book
  • The Middle Sister (1960)
  • Silly Mother (1962) - picture book
  • Game of Danger (1962)
  • Giving Away Suzanne (1962) - picture book
  • Season of the Two-Heart (1965)
  • Point of Violence (1966)
  • Ransom (1966); filmed: Held for Ransom (Eng. Kidnapped - Tödlicher Sumpf )
  • They Never Come Home (1968)
  • Major Andre, Brave Enemy (1968)
  • Peggy (1970) - Historical novella
  • Hotel for Dogs (1971) - children's book
  • A Gift of Magic (1971)
  • I know what you did last summer , original title: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973)
  • When the Bough Breaks (1974)
  • Down a Dark Hall (1974)
  • Summer of Fear (1976)
  • Killing Mr. Griffin (1978)
  • How to Write and Sell Your Personal Experiences (1979) - Nonfiction
  • Daughters of Eve (1979)
  • Stranger with My Face (1981)
  • Chapters: My Growth as a Writer (1982) - Autobiography
  • The Terrible Tales of Happy Days School (1983) - picture book
  • From Spring to Spring (1983) - picture book
  • The Third Eye (1984)
  • Horses of Dreamland (1985) - picture book
  • Locked in Time (1985)
  • The Twisted Window (1987)
  • Wonder Kid Meets the Evil Lunch Snatcher (1988) - children's book
  • Songs from Dreamland (1988) - picture book / musical CD (songs by Duncan's daughter, Robin Arquette Burkin)
  • The Birthday Moon (1989) - picture book
  • Where nobody knows you (original title: Don't Look Behind You) - (1989)
  • Who Killed My Daughter? (1992) - non-fiction
  • The Circus Comes Home (1993) - picture book with photographs of Duncan's father, Joseph Steinmetz
  • Psychic Connections (1995) - Nonfiction
  • The Magic of Spider Woman (1996) - picture book
  • Night Terrors (1996) - anthology
  • Gallows Hill (1997)
  • I still know what you did last summer (original title: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer ) - (1998)
  • Trapped! (1998) - anthology
  • The Longest Hair in the World (1999) - picture book
  • I Walk at Night (2000) - picture book
  • On the Edge (2000) - anthology
  • Song of the Circus (2002) - picture book
  • I will always know what you did last summer (original title: I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer ) - (2006)
  • Monkeys Are A Myth (2007) - Non-fiction
  • News for Dogs (2009) - children's book
  • Movie for Dogs (2010) - children's book
  • One to the Wolves (2013) - Non-fiction

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Young-adult fiction writer Lois Duncan dies . AP article in The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 16, 2016, accessed June 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ Lois Duncan . The Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature at Rhode Island College, June 21, 2007, accessed June 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ Lois Duncan at RandomHouse, accessed June 19, 2016.
  4. ↑ Lois Duncan - Biography . Internet Movie Database (IMDb), accessed June 19, 2016: “Openly despises the film version of her novel, I Know What You Did Last Summer, which the filmmakers turned into a hack-and-slash film. Lois said she especially hated it in the wake of her daughter's murder in real life. "
  5. ↑ Who Killed My Daughter? Lois Duncan's website, accessed June 19, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Duncan, Lois
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Duncan Steinmetz, Lois (maiden name); Kerry, Lois (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 2016
Place of death Sarasota , Florida , United States