Longfellow, Ki 1944- (Pamela Longfellow)

PERSONAL:

Born 1944; married Vivian Stanshall (a singer; deceased).

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Susan Lee Cohen, Riverside Literary Agency, 41 Simon Keets Rd., Leyden, MA 01337.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

(As Pamela Longfellow) China Blues, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.

(As Pamela Longfellow) Chasing Women, Grafton, 1993.

The Secret Magdalene, Eio Books (Brattleboro, VT), 2005.

Also author, with husband, Vivian Stanshall, of comic opera Stinkfoot. Contributor to periodicals, including Cream, Ms, and Rolling Stone.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ki Longfellow, who also publishes under the name Pamela Longfellow, claims to have been a writer all her life. Even during the times of her life where she was not writing, she was honing her skill. In her biography on her home page, she explained: "To do anything well takes a lot of hard work. Sometimes that hard work doesn't look like work at all, just living one step at a time. My steps took me through all those vital, varied, and scary adventures that culminated in finally sitting the heck down … and writing." Longfellow has published two novels, China Blues and Chasing Women, under the name Pamela Longfellow.

In 2005 she published The Secret Magdalene, the first in a proposed series of books on the life of Mary Magdalene. In it she novelizes the life of the woman as a scholar, prophet, Gnostic, and companion to Jesus. Donna Volkenannt on Bookreporter.com wrote: "This is a wildly imaginative novel that undoubtedly will attract a lot of attention and foster discussion about one of the most controversial and fascinating women in early Church history." A contributor to Publishers Weekly believed that the author "is more passionate about research and philosophy than plot or character." Lesa Bellevie, in a review on Magdalene.org, noted that "Longfellow's characters are well developed, her plot and subplots are compelling, and all is told with a reverent observation of what it means to be human."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, December 1, 2006, Nanci Milone Hill, review of The Secret Magdalene, p. 112.

Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2006, review of The Secret Magdalene, p. 30.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 8, 2007), Donna Volkenannt, review of The Secret Magdalene.

iBattleboro.com,http://www.ibattleboro.com/ (August 21, 2005), author interview.

Ki Longfellow Home Page,http://www.kilongfellow.com (August 8, 2007), author biography.

Magdalene.org,http://www.magdalene.org/ (August 8, 2007), Lesa Bellevie, review of The Secret Magdalene.

Moondance,http://moondance.org/ (summer, 2005), Loretta Kemsley, review of The Secret Magdalene.

The Secret Magdalene Web site,http://www.thesecretmagdalene.com (August 8, 2007), author profile.