Norma Bowkett graduated from Seldovia Territorial School in Alaska in 1948, valedictorian of a class of two. She left the state to get her B.A. and M.A. degrees in language arts at San Francisco State University, where she also taught writing. While there she started the literary quarterly "City Lights" with a few colleagues. Norma returned to Alaska to be an assistant professor of English at the University of Alaska. In 1977 she directed the play "Saturday's Warriors" performed on the University of Alaska's campus.