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SPEAKER_03: Hello. From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month we're talking about mischief makers, oddballs, chameleons, and nonconformists, queens of quick wit. Today we're talking about a prolific author who wrote across multiple genres under multiple pen names. She even spawned a new kind of writing, lesbian pulp fiction. Please welcome Mary Jane Meeker. Mary Jane Meeker was born in Auburn, New York on May 27th, 1927 to Ida and Ellis Meeker. Mary Jane grew up in a house full of books and spent most of her time reading. She loved the idea of a pseudonym, the ability to write under the cloak of a disguise and channel a new personality. And Mary Jane didn't like her real name anyway. Her favorite writer was Carson McCullers, who wrote about her life and her life and her family. Her favorite writer was Carson McCullers. Mary Jane believed she was a champion of everyone who felt out of step with the world. Mary Jane felt out of step. She sought out queer writings, and when she read that boarding schools were full of sexual perversion, she begged her parents to go. Her parents agreed, and Mary Jane was able to explore her blossoming identity as a lesbian. After graduating with a degree in English literature from the University of Missouri in 1949, Mary Jane moved to New York to start her literary career. She sold her first piece to the Ladies' Home Journal under the name Laura Winston. But her luck ran out as quickly as it came, and Mary Jane had to take a job as a proofreader for a publishing company. Mary Jane didn't want minor roles in the book industry. She wanted to publish her own work. But to get published, she needed a literary agent, and Mary Jane couldn't seem to find one of those. So she hatched a plan. What if she became her own agent? She wouldn't even need clients. She already had an extensive roster, her own pseudonyms. Mary Jane started taking publishers out to lunch and talking about her great clients, all of whom, secretly, were herself. There was Ann Aldrich, who wrote nonfiction about being a lesbian in New York, M.E. Kerr, who wrote young adult novels, Mary James, who wrote works geared toward children and then there was Vin Packer, the crime writer, who wrote what would become Mary Jane's most popular work, Spring Fire. Published in 1952, Spring Fire took inspiration from Mary Jane's time in boarding school. The novel is about a college freshman who falls in love with one of her sorority sisters. Since paperback novels were sent through the mail, Mary Jane's editor told her she couldn't portray homosexuality as an appealing lifestyle. Hostel workers would send it back to the public and hostel workers would send it back to the publisher. So at the end of the book, one girl's committed to a mental institution and the other realizes she isn't actually a lesbian. Despite the unhappy ending, Spring Fire was a hit. It was one of the first lesbian pulp novels, pulp for the cheap paper used, and is credited with kickstarting the genre. But lesbian pulp fiction wasn't the only genre Mary Jane pioneered. Under the pen name M.E. Kerr, Mary Jane wrote fiction that teenagers could relate to. She was annoyed at books that blamed the parents for the characters' problems. Those works of fiction weren't relatable to teens. She felt teens needed characters their own age to confront real issues like body image, class disparities, and sexual orientation. Only when Mary Jane felt her career was well established did she reveal she was the author behind Spring Fire. She wanted to ensure the public cared. In 2013, Mary Jane was awarded the Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award for her groundbreaking works in lesbian literature. Mary Jane ultimately published more than 60 works across multiple genres and pen names. She won numerous awards for her young adult fiction and three lifetime achievement awards. She passed away in her home in Springs, New York on November 21st, 2022. She was 95 years old. All month we're talking about Mischief Makers. For more information, check us out on Facebook and Instagram at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
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