Pamela Steele
Pamela Steele holds an MFA in Poetry from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky (2004). Her books include Paper Bird, a full-length poetry collection, (Wordcraft 2007) and two novels: Greasewood Creek (Counterpoint 2011) and In the Fields of Fatherless Children (Counterpoint 2026). Steele has been the recipient of the Jentel Arts, Djerassi Arts and Oak Ledge Writing Residencies, as well as a Fishtrap fellowship. Her awards include the George Scarbrough Poetry Prize and the Jim Wayne Miller Poetry Prize. Pamela currently lives and writes on a ranch in the High Desert region of Eastern Oregon.
Featured Book
In The Fields of Fatherless Children
In 1960’s Appalachia, many things loom darkly over June Branham: the Vietnam War is dividing the country and a strip mine is eating away the mountain, threatening the natural landscape and the only way of life she has ever known. June has fallen in love. She is pregnant, and the father may be Ellis Akers. Ellis is the son of Solomon, a mortal enemy of June’s stepfather, Isom. June’s brother, Tom, leaves to enlist in the war, and so does Ellis. Without warning, her baby is kidnapped. Guided by her love for the generations of women before her, but now desperately alone, June must carefully navigate the search for her child alongside family and strangers in a wild and disappearing landscape.
Meet Pamela Steele and get a copy of their book at the 2026 Kentucky Book Festival, Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.