Howard, Rachel 1976–

PERSONAL: Born 1976; married; husband's name Bill. Education: University of California, Santa Barbara, graduate.

ADDRESSES: Home—San Francisco, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Dutton Books, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Dance critic, book reviewer, and fiction writer. Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara, CA, former staff arts writer; Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA, former staff arts writer; San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, CA, dance critic, 2001–03; San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, dance critic and book reviewer.

WRITINGS:

Hope for the Widow, Tamarisk Haus (Wichita, KS), 1994.

The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder, Dutton (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to publications, including Village Voice and Dance magazine.

SIDELIGHTS: Despite an established career as a freelance dance critic, California native Rachel Howard struggled internally with unresolved emotions centering on a devastating childhood event: her father's unsolved murder. When she began exploring her memories of the incident on paper, Howard found the process cathartic, and shared with Fresno Famous interviewer Heather McLane her philosophy regarding writing as therapy: "When you have a really awful theory in your head, at first, when you think of it, you're kind of reliving it as you did in that moment. But if you write it down, you create a new memory as being in control of the original experience and you remove it from yourself in that way and you feel that you're in control of it." Howard's account of the crime and its personal aftermath are chronicled in The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder.

A Publishers Weekly reviewer described The Lost Night as "a poignant account of the lifelong effects violence and tragedy can have on an individual and a family." In a review for Library Journal, Jamie Engle called the book "an uncommon glimpse into the aftermath of a murder" and Howard's writing "honest and unclut-tered." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews regarded the story as "rich in detail" with "memorable portraits of a fragmented family." D.J. Palladino, a Santa Barbara Independent contributor and Howard's former editor, wrote that Howard is "a clear, incisive writer blessed with an uncommon work ethic" and that her "odyssey through her own 'lost life' holds out riches and humane possibilities for those who imagine only darkness can answer unforgivable crimes."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2005, review of The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder, p. 576.

Library Journal, June 1, 2005, Jamie Engle, review of The Lost Night, p. 142.

Publishers Weekly, May 9, 2005, review of The Lost Night, p. 58.

ONLINE

FresnoFamous.com, http://www.fresnofamous.com/ (October 17, 2005), Heather McLean, author interview.

Rachel Howard Home Page, http://www.rachelhoward.com (October 17, 2005).

Santa Barbara Independent Online, http://www.independent.com/ (August 11, 2005), D.J. Palladino, "Childhood Noir: Rachel Howard's Memoir of Murder."