- Carol Plum-Ucci
Infobox Writer
caption = Carol Plum-Ucci
name = Carol Plum-Ucci
birthdate = birth date and age|1957|8|16
birthplace =Atlantic City , NJ, U.S.A.
occupation =novelist ,essayist
genre =Young Adult literature
notableworks = The Body of Christopher Creed
influences =S.E. Hinton ,Stephen King ,C.S. Lewis ,J. D. Salinger ,Judith Guest .Carol Plum-Ucci (born
August 16 ,1957 inAtlantic City, New Jersey ) is ayoung adult novelist andessayist . Plum-Ucci’s most famous work to date is "The Body of Christopher Creed", for which she won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book Award in 2002 and was named a Finalist to theEdgar Allan Poe Award . Describing her subjects as "the most common, timeless, and most heart-felt teenagers," Plum-Ucci is widely recognized for her use of the South Jersey shore to set scenes for engaging characters embracing suspense themes.Early life
Plum-Ucci grew up on the barrier island of
Brigantine, New Jersey , where she attended the public schools until the age of thirteen.Good, Daniel. [http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/113/story/204508.html "A mature subject for local author's new teen novel"] , "The Press of Atlantic City ",July 13 ,2008 . AccessedSeptember 2 ,2008 . "The work station in her Absecon home resembles a child's bedroom....Plum-Ucci, a Brigantine native, situates her stories in the towns and beaches from her childhood."] She then went to Atlantic City Friends’ School, where her grandmother, Neva Ingersoll, taught advanced high school mathematics. She graduated from Holy Spirit High School in 1975. Her father, Neil Plum, and her paternal grandmother, Ads Plum, partnered in the funeral business, owning Plum Funeral Homes in Brigantine, Atlantic City, and Ventnor. Plum-Ucci largely attributes her writer’s imagination to lying awake at night, above the Brigantine funeral parlor, listening to the sounds downstairs.She received her bachelor’s in communication from
Purdue University in 1979. She served as feature editor of the "Purdue Exponent ", a two-year post. After Purdue, Plum-Ucci was a freelance writer in the Chicago area for several years. She became Assistant to the Producer of theMiss America Pageant in Atlantic City in 1984. She later served as Staff Writer and Director of Publications of the Miss America Organization and Miss America Scholarship Foundation, producing up to a dozen publications a year for volunteers and participants. Plum-Ucci retired in 1999, two months after receiving her first advance on royalties from The Body of Christopher Creed from Harcourt—the first novel she sold.
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