Satran, Pamela Redmond 1953–

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Satran, Pamela Redmond 1953–

PERSONAL: Surname is pronounced Satt-ren; born April 10, 1953, in New York, NY; daughter of Joseph Paul (a police officer) and Margaret (Goudie) Redmond; married Dick Satran (front page editor of Reuters), November 7, 1981; children: Rory Elizabeth Margaret, Joe, Owen. Education: University of Wisconsin—Madison, B.A., 1975. Hobbies and other interests: Travel (Mexico, the Caribbean, Taiwan, England, France, Italy, and "countries in between").

ADDRESSES: Home—Montclair, NJ. Agent—Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider, 250 West 57th St., New York, NY 10107 (novels and individual work); Brian DeFiore, The Creative Culture, 72 Spring St., Ste. 304, New York, NY 10012 (name books). E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Footwear News, New York City, former imports editor; Glamour magazine, former shoe and lingerie editor. Has held other positions in the fashion industry.

WRITINGS:

WITH LINDA ROSENKRANTZ

Beyond Jennifer and Jason: An Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1988.

Beyond Charles and Diana: An Anglophile's Guide to Baby Naming, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1992.

Beyond Sarah and Sam: An Enlightened Guide to Jewish Baby Naming, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1992.

Beyond Shannon and Sean: An Enlightened Guide to Irish Baby Naming, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1992.

The Last Word on First Names: The Definitive A—Z Guide to the Best and Worst in Baby Names by America's Leading Experts, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana: What to Name Your Baby Now, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1999, revised and expanded, 2004.

Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool—The Very Last Word on First Names, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2001.

Cool Names for Babies, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2003.

OTHER

Dressing Smart: The Woman's Guide to Style, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.

The Man I Should Have Married (novel), Downtown Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Babes in Captivity (novel), Downtown Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Younger (novel), Downtown Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Suburbanistas, Downtown Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to several magazines, including Glamour, Parenting, Bon Appetit, Good Housekeeping, the New York Times, Men's Journal, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, and the Washington Post.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A new baby name book with Linda Rosenkrantz for St. Martin's Press.

SIDELIGHTS: Pamela Redmond Satran began her writing career in a series of journalism jobs before landing an editor position at Glamour magazine. In 1987, Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz published their first of many baby name books, Beyond Jennifer and Jason: What to Name Your Baby Now. Their baby name books offer insight into current trends of baby-naming, enlightening readers with advice on which names imply babies are smart, sassy, or sophisticated, and adding variant spellings, nicknames, and unconventional pronunciations to their witty observations.

In 2003, Satran published her first novel, The Man I Should Have Married. When Kennedy Smith's husband quits his job to become a yoga instructor and date a younger woman, Kennedy returns to her old neighborhood. There she runs into Declan McGlynn, an Irish bartender Kennedy once dated. Deborah Donovan of Booklist suggested that "Kennedy's spunk … elevates this first novel above the average jilted-woman-finds-true-love romance," and in the Library Journal, Karen Core acknowledged that unlike most chick-lit heroines, Kennedy "has the responsibilities and challenges of motherhood, giving the text added dimension."

The novel Babes in Captivity follows four women who met in a mothers' group and continue to meet once a month. Each woman wishes her life were more satisfying: Deirdre wonders what would have happened if she had pursued her dreams of becoming a famous singer; Anne wishes she could stop financing her husband's dreams and fund one of her own; Juliette wants another child, but her husband is against the idea; Lisa leads an ordered, organized life that suddenly gets knocked out of whack. A reviewer from Parenting magazine called the book a "fast, funny read."

Published in 2005, Younger tells the story of Alice Green, who has had a bad year. Aside from losing a lot of weight, she has also lost her mother to cancer, her daughter to the Peace Corps, and her husband to another woman. After her friend urges her to get her life back together, she starts anew, dying her hair, buying new clothes, landing a great job, and dating a younger man. Much about the singles world has changed, and Alice needs to adjust. Eventually, Alice acquires everything she wants but realizes playing the part of a younger woman might not be all that it appears to be. In a review for Booklist, Maria Hatton observed that "readers young and not so young will love this new twist on the coming-of-age theme."

Satran credits her writing success to continually staying educated in the craft of writing through workshops, writing groups, and above all—practice. Of her writing, Satran explained on her Web site: "I am one of those people who gets antsy on Christmas and on vacation or whenever I'm not writing; I need it as much as I need chocolate. More, in fact."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Baby Talk, October, 2003, review of Cool Names for Babies, p. 11.

Booklist, July, 1990, review of Dressing Smart, p. 86; March 1, 2003, Deborah Donovan, review of The Man I Should Have Married, p. 1147; August, 2004, Maria Hattan, review of Babes in Captivity, p. 1902; May 1, 2005, Maria Hattan, review of Younger, p. 1572.

Entertainment Weekly, April 29, 1994, review of Beyond Jennifer and Jason, p. 74.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2003, review of The Man I Should Have Married, p. 110; May 15, 2004, review of Babes in Captivity, p. 472.

Library Journal, November 1, 2001, Vivian Reed, review of Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool—The Very Last Word on First Names, p. 84; February 15, 2003, Karen Core, review of The Man I Should Have Married, p. 171.

Parenting, July 1, 2004, review of Babes in Captivity, p. 45.

Publishers Weekly, June 27, 2005, review of Younger, p. 43.