Marijane Meaker (born May 27, 1927) is an American novelist and short story writer in several genres using different pen names. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote twenty mystery and crime novels as Vin Packer, including Spring Fire which is credited with launching the genre of lesbian pulp fiction (although few of Packer's books address homosexuality or feature gay characters). In 1972 she switched genres and pen names once more to begin writing for young adults, and became quite successful as M.E. Kerr, producing over 20 novels and winning multiple awards including the American Library Association's lifetime award for young-adult literature, the ALA Margaret Edwards Award.
Author Marijane Meaker was born in Auburn, New York on May 27, 1927. In 1943, she enrolled in Stuart Hall, a boarding school in Virginia. After graduation, she attended Vermont Junior College for a year before transferring to the University of Missouri where she majored in English literature. In 1951, she sold her first story to Ladies' Home Journal for $850.00. Throughout her career, she has written under multiple pseudonyms for different genres. All of her books, no matter which audience it was written for, deal with functions and dysfunctions in relationships and other serious topics. From 1952 to 1969, she wrote mystery and crime novels, including Spring Fire, as Vin Packer. From 1955… to 1972, she wrote a series of nonfiction books, including We Walk Alone and We, Too, Must Love, as Ann Aldrich. She started writing young adult books in 1972 as M. E. Kerr. Her works using this pseudonym include Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!, Is That You, Miss Blue, Gentlehands, and Hello, I Lied. In 1990, she started writing children's books under the name Mary James. Her works using this pseudonym include Shoebag, The Shuteyes, Frankenlouse, and Shoebag Returns. In 1993, she received the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the American Library Association. 030