Allen Fowler

I began writing the Alexandra Stepp series when my daughter was eight or nine. She’s now a college graduate. As Vonnegut would say … so it goes. I wrote the young characters with her in mind because she, like every other nine year old I’ve known, was strong-willed, sharp-witted and curious. The series is a coming of age story set in Western Massachusetts and the woods of Vermont.

Here’s the statement I make having to do with my inclusion of indigenous people as integral to the story, plot and resolution:

I have worked to create characters who are both imperfect and admirable. I have relied upon Native peoples’ culture and explanations for the existence and balance between good and evil as the driving force for much of the action. I have also

I began writing the Alexandra Stepp series when my daughter was eight or nine. She’s now a college graduate. As Vonnegut would say … so it goes. I wrote the young characters with her in mind because she, like every other nine year old I’ve known, was strong-willed, sharp-witted and curious. The series is a coming of age story set in Western Massachusetts and the woods of Vermont.

Here’s the statement I make having to do with my inclusion of indigenous people as integral to the story, plot and resolution:

I have worked to create characters who are both imperfect and admirable. I have relied upon Native peoples’ culture and explanations for the existence and balance between good and evil as the driving force for much of the action. I have also tried to limit the full appreciation and knowledge of this culture to the Native people characters. My intent and effort has sought to appreciate not appropriate.

I live in Western Massachusetts where I work as a writer, artist, and educator. I have taught visual arts, literature, and composition at both the secondary and college levels, and most recently worked as a curriculum developer and instructional coach for a nonprofit workforce development agency.

I write poetry and plays as well. Two of my short plays have been performed, one at the Playwright’s Platform Summer Festival (Boston, MA) and the other at the Fledgling Short Play Festival (Providence, RI). A full length play, Unspeakable (Not a Word), advanced to the semifinalist round of the 2019 Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries at the American Shakespeare Center (Staunton, VA).