Passionate about the arts, Jane Louise Curry dedicated her life to numerous facets of the industry before settling on writing. She started her journey as a student at Pennsylvania State University for a year before transferring to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in 1954. The degree propelled her to her first professional positions as an art teacher, first at East Liverpool Schools in 1955 and then at Los Angeles Schools from 1956 to 1959.
During this time, Dr. Curry decided that a career in English would better suit her skills and interests, so she went back to school. She completed postgraduate studies in English at the University of California, Los Angeles, between 1957 and 1959, and continued on to Stanford University in California. There, Dr. Curry worked as a teaching assistant in the English Department from 1959 to 1961 and again from 1964 to 1965, served as an acting instructor from 1967 to 1968, and earned a Master of Arts and a PhD in 1962 and 1969, respectively. Further, she distinguished herself as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London from 1961 to 1962 and a Leverhulme Fellow at the same institution from 1965 to 1966.
With a wealth of new experiences in hand, Dr. Curry once again set out to pursue her passions, this time on the literary side of the field. Around 1965, she approached a British publisher with her first book, “Down from the Lonely Mountain,” a collection of Californian Indian tales she was interested in rewritten for children. The book was immediately accepted, and her career evolved rapidly from there. Over the years, Dr. Curry penned countless stories and adventures, including, “Beneath the Hill” in 1967, which was the first of her acclaimed 8-book Abaloc Series, “The Watchers,” in 1975, “Robin Hood and his Merry Men” in 1994, and “Turtle Island: Tales of the Algonquin Nations,” in 1999. More recently, she authored the likes of “The Black Canary,” and “Poor Tom’s Ghost.” Between 2016 and 2017, Dr. Curry’s Abaloc Series was rereleased in both print and Kindle editions. Her preferred genres are time travel, fantasy and mystery for children and young adults, and her books can all be found on Amazon.com.
When Dr. Curry isn’t writing, she enjoys travel and gardening. She also returned to her alma mater, Stanford University, as a lecturer and instructor a couple of times to share her experiences.