Patricia Nell Warren
- Category : 1936-births
- Type : ME
- Profile : 2/4 - Hermit / Opportunist
- Definition : Single
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Eden 2
Biography
American novelist, poet and journalist whose first novel, The Front Runner (1974), was the first work of contemporary gay fiction to make the the New York Times Best Seller list. Told from the point of view of a gay track coach, the story chronicled his struggle to get a talented openly gay runner on the U.S. Olympic team, and to quash his own growing love for his protegé. The book sold 10 million copies and was translated into 10 different languages. Two decades later, Warren added two sequels, Harlan's Race (1994) and Billy's Boy (1996). Warren also came out as a lesbian in 1974.
She began writing at age 10 and got her first literary recognition at age 18, winning the Atlantic Monthly College Fiction Contest with a short story.
Warren earned an associate of arts degree from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri in 1955, then a bachelor of arts in English in 1957 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.
In 1957, she married Ukrainian emigre poet Yuriy Tarnawsky. Through her marriage, she learned the Ukrainian language and became associated with a group of other young Ukrainian emigre poets who became internationally known as the New York Group. As a part of their publishing collective, she began writing and publishing poetry in Ukrainian.
In 1959, Warren went to work for Reader's Digest and worked there for 21 years; she became an editor for both the magazine and the Condensed Book Club. Her first novel The Last Centennial was published by Dial Press in 1971, under the pen name Patricia Kilina, which she also used for her Ukrainian poetry.
Warren was one of the first women to run in the Boston Marathon, in 1968. She participated in a group of female runners who got women's marathoning recognized in the U.S.
In 1976, Warren published her third novel, The Fancy Dancer, and in 1978, came her fourth novel, The Beauty Queen, followed by One Is the Sun (1991) and The Wild Man (2001).
During the 1990s, Warren became more active politically. In 1996-1999, as a result of her concerns for LGBT youth, she volunteered as a commissioner of education in the Los Angeles Unified School District, serving on the Gay & Lesbian Education Commission and later the Human Relations Education Commission. In 2006, Warren hired veteran political consultant Neal Zaslavsky and announced her candidacy for City Council in West Hollywood, California. Warren was unsuccessful in her run.
Warren died on 9 February 2019 at the age of 82.