Bowen received contracts to write other books. The book was part of the popular Sweet Dream series. She found time to write between taking care of the kids and the house and turned in three chapters by her deadline.īowen got a contract from Bantam, wrote the book, "California Girl," and it was a hit when it came out in 1980. "My husband said, 'You don't write this sort of stuff.' But a little voice inside me said, 'Huh! You can write this sort of stuff.' " Then she went to the library and read a few teen books. Despite not having teenagers herself (her oldest was then 12), she said yes. Her agent rang her up one day and asked if she could write a teen book in a hurry - say, three chapters for a book proposal in less than a week. "But as a writer told me, an agent can be the bad guy if you need one." "An agent is less important in the children's field if you have a good relationship with your publisher," she said. Then it took two or three years for me to sell another book."īut she was prolific after that, selling about six children's books in six years.Īfter the fourth book she decided to get a literary agent. I thought, I'll be guaranteed income for life. "It received lots of attention," Bowen said. "Peter Penny's Dance" was published by Dial Press in 1976 and, talk about beginner's luck, it became a New York Times "best book of the year" for children and was on the short list for a Caldecott Medal.
The first publisher she sent it to said no, but the second one said yes. "In those days, one could just do that and not have to worry about having a literary agent," she said. She came up with an idea for a picture book about a sailor who dances around the world and sent a proposal off to publishers in 1975. Although today she is known as a mystery writer, she began her literary life as a children's book author. Bowen, of San Rafael, has written more than 100 books. They have four children, Claire, 37, who lives in Phoenix Anna, 35, in Los Angeles Jane, 33, in Sonoma and Dominic, 30, in New York, and five grandchildren.Ī job offer for John as a sales manager at an airline brought them to San Francisco in 1966, where she got her start as an author. Good thing, for it was there that she met her husband John, 72, and took his name and became Janet Quin-Harkin. An accomplished singer and guitarist, in her spare time she performed in London folk clubs with, among others, Simon and Garfunkel and Al Stewart (best known for "The Year of the Cat") in the mid '60s.Īn adventurous sort, she jumped at the chance when offered a job as a studio manager in Sydney with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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