FEATURED AUTHOR: LOIS DUNCAN

Lois Duncan grew up in Sarasota, Florida, the

daughter of internationally known magazine
photographers, Joseph and Lois Steinmetz. She has
one younger brother. From early childhood, she
knew she wanted to be a writer. She submitted her
first story to a magazine at the age of ten and
made her first sale at thirteen to a magazine called
Calling All Girls. Throughout her high school years
she
wrote regularly for young people's magazines,
particularly Seventeen.
In 1962, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where she taught
for
the Journalism Department at the University of New
Mexico and continued to write for magazines. Over 300
of her articles and short stories appeared in such
publications as Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's,
Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest, and for a
number of years she was a contributing editor for
Woman's Day.

Sit down
every day and
DO IT. Writing
is a self-taught
craft; the more
you work at it,
the more

Duncan is also the author of 48 books, ranging from

skilled you
children's picture books to adult novels, but she is best
known for her young adult suspense novels. Many of
become. And
those have been chosen as American Library
Association "Best Books for Young Adults" and Jr.
when you're
Literary Guild Selections, and they have won Young Readers Awards
in 16 states and three foreign countries. In 1992, Lois received the
Margaret A. Edwards Award, presented by the School Library Journal
and the Young Adult Library Services Association, to honor a living
author for a distinguished body of adolescent literature.
Duncan has also written novels and non-fiction books for adults, including
Who Killed My Daughter? the true story of her search for the truth behind the
brutal murder of the youngest of her five children, eighteen-year-old Kaitlyn.
Although written for adults, this book has been embraced by young people.
Common Themes

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Lois Duncan remains best known for her teen suspense novels, involving
high school students having their lives turned upside down by tragic events,
mixed with various supernatural elements therein, novels which remain
popular with youngsters and adults alike. As Miranda Scwarz notes in the
Chicago Tribune, Lois Duncans works primarily deal with an examination of
the metamorphosis of evil from simple prankishness to intentional harm.
Duncans most famous novel is probably I Know What You Did Last Summer
(1973), which reflects this theme. The novel was adapted for the screen in
1993. Duncan was vocal in her disapproval of the film adaptation and its
gratuitous violence. The film changes many aspects of the book, which was
not a slasher novel.

Selected Bibliography
Down A Dark Hall (1974)
Stranger With My Face (1981)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973)
Killing Mr. Griffin (1978)
Dont Look Behind You (1989)
Summer of Fear (1976)
A Gift of Magic (1971)
The Third Eye (1984)
Daughters of Eve (1979)
Who Killed My Daughter (1992)

Sources

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Cambell, Kimberly. Lois Duncan: Author of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Authors
Teens Love Series. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers. 2009.

Lois Duncan. The Authors Official website. http://loisduncan.arquettes.com.

Web. 16 June 2014

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