Patricia Monaghan was a poet, a writer, a spiritual activist, and an influential figure in the contemporary women's spirituality movement. Monaghan wrote over 20 books on a range of topics including Goddess spirituality, earth spirituality, Celtic mythology, the landscape of Ireland, and techniques of meditation. In 1979, she published the first encyclopedia of female divinities, a book which has remained steadily in print since then and was republished in 2009 in a two volume set as The Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. She was a mentor to many scholars and writers including biologist Cristina Eisenberg, poet Annie Finch, theologian Charlene Spretnak, and anthropologist Dawn Work-MaKinne, and was the founding member of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, which brought together artists, scholars, and researchers of women-centered mythology and Goddess spirituality for the first time in a national academic organization.
Patricia Pakenham-Walsh, also known as Patricia Moyes was a British mystery writer. Her mystery novels feature C.I.D. Inspector Henry Tibbett. One of them, Who Saw Her Die was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1971. Moyes was inducted into the Detection Club in 1971. In addition to the Tibbett mysteries, she also wrote several juveniles and short stories.
Patricia Nell Warren, also known by her pen name Patricia Kilina, was an American novelist, poet, editor and journalist. Her second novel, The Front Runner (1974), was the first work of contemporary gay fiction to make the New York Times Best Seller list. Her third novel, The Fancy Dancer (1976), was the first bestseller to portray a gay priest and to explore gay life in a small town.
Patricia Barber Polacco is an American author and illustrator. Throughout her school years, Polacco struggled with reading but found relief by expressing herself through art. Polacco endured teasing and hid her disability until a school teacher recognized that she could not read and began to help her. Her book Thank You, Mr. Falker is Polacco's retelling of this encounter and its outcome. She also wrote such books as Mr. Lincoln's Way and The Lemonade Club.
Patricia Reilly Giff was an American author and teacher born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. She was educated at Marymount Manhattan College, where she was awarded a B.A. degree, and St. John's University, where she earned an M.A. and Hofstra University, where she was awarded a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters. After spending some twenty years as a full-time teacher, she began writing, specializing in children's literature. Giff resided in Trumbull, Connecticut, along with her husband Jim and their three children. Giff's writing workshops have influenced other children's authors such as Tony Abbott and Elise Broach. She was a Newbery Honor, ALA Best Book For Young Adults, and Christopher Award laureate.
Patricia Relf is an author of books for children and adults. Raised in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, she received an A.B. in English from Cornell University and an M.A. in medieval studies from Western Michigan University. She has worked in publishing, at Random House Books for Young Readers and Sesame Street Magazine, and since 1979 has been a freelance writer of books, educational materials, and computer software. She was a Latin instructor at Western Michigan University. She now lives in the Cleveland area.
Patricia Mary St. John was an English writer who was known as one of the most prolific British Protestant evangelical writers of fiction in the latter part of the 20th century. She worked for much of her life as a Protestant missionary nurse in Morocco. During her time as a house mother at Clarendon School for Girls which was run by her aunt, she wrote Treasures of the Snow and The Tanglewoods' Secret. Her later novels Star of Light and Secret of the Fourth Candle were based on her experiences in Tangiers. She lived for some years until her death in Canley, Coventry in 1993.
