The rabbi came from the Slobodka Yeshiva; his congregation came from Broadway. The synagogue was a modest brick building a block from Broadway in the middle of that colorful New York neighborhood known fifty years ago as Hell's Kitchen. Between prayers on Yom Kippur you could hear a chorus of would-be Ruby Keelers tap-dancing in the rehearsal hall next door. This is the exuberant story of Bernard Birsteinhis immigrant travels and travails in America, his ever-increasing family of five children and countless poor relations, and his adventurous rabbinical life. The narrator is his youngest daughter, Ann, the blond-haired enfant terrible who grew up to write six novels and now this captivating book.
Here are some plain facts of my professional life.
EDUCATION:B.A. Queens College, magna cum laude with honors in English; Graduate work, Kenyon School of English; Graduate work, Sorbonne, Paris; University of Aix-Marseille
HONORS Honorary Alumni Member Phi Beta Kappa;National Endowment for the Arts grant; Fulbright Fellowship; Queens College Scholar
PUBLICATIONS:
Vanity Fare, a novel, Publish America
What I Saw at the Fair, autobiography, Welcome Rain Publ.
The Last of the True Believers, a novel, W.W. Norton.
The Rabbi on Forty-seventh Street , a biography, Dial Press; Authors Guild Back in Print
American Children, a novel, Doubleday and Company; Authors Guild Back in Print
Dickie's List, a novel, Coward McCann and Geoghegan.
Summer Situations, three short novels, Coward McCann and Geoghegan; Avon Books.
The Sweet Birds of Gorham, a novel, David McKay; Gollancz; Ballantine Books.
The Troublemaker, a novel, Dodd Mead.
Star of Glass, a novel, Dodd Mead; Popular Library.
Co-editor, The Works of Anne Frank, Doubleday
Contributor of stories, articles, essays, reviews to: Book World Confrontation, Connoisseur, Geo, Inside, Mademoiselle, McCall's, New York Times, The New Yorker, The Reporter, Vogue, Washington Post, and other publications.
For six years film critic for Vogue, former Contributing Editor, Inside Magazine.
EXPERIENCE
Director and Founder: Writers on Writing at Barnard.
Adjunct Professor of English, Barnard College.
Lecturer, Columbia University, School of General Studies.
Adjunct Star Professor of English, Hofstra University.
Visiting Professor of English, SUNY at Albany.
Visiting Lecturer, The Writers Workshop, University of Iowa.
Teacher of Creative Writing, the Browning School, New York.
Writer-in-Residence, CCNY.
Lecturer, The New School
Lecturer, Queens College
Lectures and readings at: Barnard College, Columbia School of Fine Arts, Hunter College, Kingsborough Community College, Long Island University, Queens College, Smith College, Stanford University, Stern College, and various schools and community centers here and abroad.
Former President, MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee.
Member of PEN (formerly member of the Executive Board and head of the Admissions Committee).
Member of the Authors Guild (formerly member of the Guild Council).
REFERENCE WORKS
Listed in: Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who of American Women, Contemporary Authors, Jewish American Women Authors among other publications.
