author
Sonya Dorman
1924–2005
A poet and speculative fiction writer with a gift for vivid, metaphor-rich storytelling, this mid-century voice moved easily between literary magazines and science fiction. She is especially remembered for the celebrated story "When I Was Miss Dow" and for bringing a lyrical edge to the genre.
1 Audiobook
The Putnam Tradition
by Sonya Dorman
About the author
Born in New York City on June 4, 1924, and raised by foster parents on a farm in West Newbury, Massachusetts, she built an unusually varied life before publishing, working jobs that included stablehand and tuna boat cook. She later lived in New Mexico and died in Taos on February 14, 2005.
Writing as Sonya Dorman, Sonya Dorman Hess, and Sonya Hess, she began publishing science fiction in the early 1960s and quickly became known for intense, imaginative stories. Her best-known work is often cited as "When I Was Miss Dow," and her fiction also appeared in magazines and anthologies alongside work in mainstream venues such as Redbook and The Saturday Evening Post.
She was also well known as a poet. Her poem Corruption of Metals won the Rhysling Award in 1978, a sign of how comfortably she moved between poetry and speculative fiction while keeping a distinctive, lyrical voice in both.