Jean Paiva
Jean Paiva was an American writer born in Florida in 1944, known for her reclusive nature and preference for privacy, which kept much of her personal life shrouded in mystery even among close associates. Throughout her life, she was married three times, but she rarely discussed her marriages or family, indicating a strong desire to separate her personal matters from her professional identity. Paiva had a diverse career, holding various roles in the literary and publishing industries, including managing editor of Crawdaddy Magazine and senior editor at American Management Associates.
She was actively involved in professional organizations and contributed to the literary community through her editorial work and public relations roles. In 1989, she published her debut novel, *The Lilith Factor*, which garnered a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. Just before her passing in 1989, she completed her second novel, *The Last Gamble*, published posthumously in 1990. Paiva’s short stories also appeared in several anthologies in the 1990s, reflecting her literary contributions despite her preference for a low profile.
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Subject Terms
Jean Paiva
Writer
- Born: 1944
- Birthplace: Florida
- Died: 1989
- Place of death:
Biography
Jean Paiva was a very private person who preferred to keep others at arm’s length. As a result, very little is known about her, even by people who considered themselves her close associates. She was born in Florida in 1944 and had at least one brother, but she rarely mentioned him and never gave any contact information for him to anyone in her circle of literary associates. She apparently was married three times, with all of her marriages ending in divorce, but she almost never spoke of her former husbands. She apparently felt that such personal matters were nobody else’s business. Even Marvin Kaye, who frequently collaborated with her on novels and short stories, knew almost nothing about her private life, although they frequently based characters in their fiction upon one another.
Paiva held a variety of jobs while working on her writing career and frequently moved from place to place. The first half of the 1960’s found her in New York City, where she worked for the Fashion Institute of Technology and the New School for Social Research. She also became an officer of several professional organizations and a member of the advisory board of Who’s Who. Later, her jobs were more closely connected with the literary world; she was managing editor of Crawdaddy Magazine and an editor and columnist for Magnum/Royal Communications. By 1973, she was working at Drake Publishing, where she was in charge of publicity, handling press releases, reviewers, and author tours. In 1976, she moved to American Management Associates, where she was a senior editor with extensive marketing responsibility.
In the 1980’s, she took a job at Cablentertainement, where she worked on corporate communications with partners and investors, overseeing the production of all corporate communications, including brochures and videos. She later was the primary publicist and assistant to the manager of Gaming and Wagering Business magazine. Although she continued to work in New York City, she eventually moved to Bayonne, New Jersey.
In 1989, she published her first novel, The Lilith Factor, which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. Just a few days before her death in 1989, she finished her second novel, The Last Gamble, published in 1990. In the 1990’s, her short stories were included in the anthologies Angels of Darkness (1995) and Don’t Open This Book! (1998).