been dead for at least fifty years, so I had no model for writing books as something that people still did. I think subconsciously I figured you needed three names or at the very least a British accent.'
At Whitman College, Dean double-majored in English and drama: 'If you can imagine anyone being this naive, I figured if the acting thing didn't work out, I'd have the English major to fall back on.' After college, she moved to New York and spent two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse, a professional actors' training program. She worked in New York and regional theater for nearly a decade, and met her future husband when they were cast as brother and sister in A. R. Gumey's play
In 1990, Dean moved back to the Northwest and got her MFA at the University of Oregon. She started teaching writing and publishing her short stories in literary journals.
'In retrospect,' she said, 'I'm very grateful for my circuitous journey, that I wasn't some wunderkind. I like to think I have more compassion now and a perspective that I didn't have when I was younger.'