Bebe Moore Campbell

Bebe Moore Campbell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George and Doris Moore. After her parents' divorce, Campbell started sending her father serial short stories when he moved to North Carolina. She later credited these short stories as the beginning of her career as a writer. Due to the influence of her strict mother, Campbell went on to be a straight "A" student at Philadelphia High School for Girls and an Elementary Education graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. After college Campbell taught elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. While teaching in Atlanta, Campbell took a writing class from Toni Cade Bambara and was bitten by the writing bug. Campbell also worked at Howard University in Washington, DC as a publicist. In 1976, Essence Magazine bought one of Campbell's short stories. Thinking that she was on her way to becoming a novelist, Campbell submitted several more stories to Essence to no avail. One day, the editor of