An American novelist and screenwriter, she is most remembered for her semi-autobiographical book, Before Women had Wings. The popular work won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award in 1996.
She worked as a bartender, caterer, nurse, television producer, TV show host, antique dealer, and construction worker prior to beginning her literary career.
Her work has been characterized as southern literature with a postmodernist bent.
Born and raised in Florida, she received her bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa.
Fowler's literary structure and tone mirror those of author Virginia Woolf.