Herin, Miriam

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Herin, Miriam

PERSONAL:

Born in Miami, FL; married; children: two. Education: Emory & Henry College, B.A.; University of South Carolina, M.A., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Greensboro, NC. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Has taught at Limestone College, Gaffney, SC, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC, and Essex County College, Newark, NJ. Was an editorial assistant for Good Housekeeping, New York, NY.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Novello Literary Award, 2007, for Absolution.

WRITINGS:

Absolution (novel), Novello Festival Press (Charlotte, NC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

American writer Miriam Herin taught at colleges in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey before concentrating on freelance writing, editing, and public relations. In 2007, Herrin published her first novel, Absolution. The book was chosen as the winner of the 2007 Novello Literary Award from nearly eighty manuscripts.

Absolution tells the story of Maggie Delaney, whose husband, Richard, was recently murdered in an attempted robbery at a convenience store. When the young Vietnamese immigrant who shot Richard goes to trial, Maggie is told that the case will be an easy one to win. But the defending attorney argues that Richard's death may be related to his experiences during the Vietnam War when he was a soldier there. This turn of events conjures up memories of Maggie's past and her involvement in the antiwar movement in college, as she also searches for Richard's Vietnam-era friends to try to put the pieces of his story together. Overall, critics responded positively to Absolution, citing the novel's skillful character development and interesting story and plot. In this book, Herin is "demonstrating a gift for the nuances of personal interactions," noted a Publishers Weekly contributor. Absolution is a "poignantly solid debut novel," wrote Jennifer Parker in a review for the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Sun News.

Herin told CA: "My mother read me Felix Salten's book Bambi: A Life in the Woods when I was six years old. This was not the Walt Disney version but the original children's book about death in the forest and the struggles of coming of age. I was enthralled by the story and decided then I wanted to be a writer, a dream deferred for many years. When I was an adult, a psychologist pointed out how much the story reflected my own childhood reality while offering me an affirmative vision for my personal future. Soon thereafter I began writing seriously. Stories are powerful!

"I have been influenced by so many wonderful writers, too numerous to name. I have done a Master's and Ph.D. in English literature, although I think I knew very early in the educational process that I was a disinterested scholar but an ardent reader.

"When I begin a story, I'm a blind woman feeling my way. I may start with a character or an ending, a beginning, or all three. But I have no idea what will occur along the way. I liken this to walking along a precipice not knowing where the next step will take me. To make myself take that next step, I have a rule that I must write three pages a day and then I can quit. When I get enough pages, I start rewriting, even before I'm finished. That's when the fun begins and the real creativity kicks in. I could rewrite forever.

"The most surprising thing I have learned as a writer is how mystical and mysterious is this thing called the creative process.

"I want my stories to connect with experiences of love, anger, joy, grief, betrayal, and hope of which our humanness is made."