Ballantyne, Sheila 1936-2007 (Sheila Carolyn Ballantyne)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born July 26, 1936, in Seattle, WA; died of multisystem atrophy, May 2, 2007, in Berkeley, CA. Educator and author. Ballantyne was a fiction writer who was well known for her feminist-themed books, including the novel Imaginary Crimes. Raised by a father who was tough on his children after her mother died, she went on to earn a degree in psychology from Mills College in 1958 and later married a psychoanalyst. In her early career, she worked as a researcher and medical secretary until 1963. Ballantyne focused on her family for the rest of the decade before turning increasingly to writing as a creative outlet. Her two novels, Norma Jean the Termite Queen (1975) and Imaginary Crimes (1982), both concern women struggling to balance family with their desire to realize their own identities. Imaginary Crimes was adapted as 1994 motion picture and won the Washington State Governor's Award for Fiction, among other honors. Ballantyne, a pen name she adopted from her mother's maiden name, also earned an O. Henry Award in 1977 for her short story "Perpetual Care," which was reprinted in her only other book, the short story collection Life on Earth (1988). The author spent much of her later life as a creative writing teacher at Mills College from 1984 until 1996.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, June 15, 2007, Section 3, p. 8.

Los Angeles Times, June 14, 2007, p. B8.

New York Times, June 9, 2007, p. B11.