Rosenberg, Liz
Born: February 3, 1958 in Glen Cove, New York
Died:
Literary Vocations: Children's Author, Poet, Novelist, Book Reviewer.
Geographic Connection to Pennsylvania: Lanesboro, Susquehanna, Susquehanna County
Keywords: Bennington College, Fine Arts Works Center, John Gardner, Heart and Soul, Johns Hopkins University, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, Patterson Prize, Public Poetry Project, State University of New York at Binghamton
Abstract: Liz Rosenberg is best known for her work as a children's book author and her accomplishments in poetry. Her poetry collections have won her many awards and her long list of children's books and young adult novels have given her commercial success. Her award- winning teaching and her work as an editor on numerous anthologies have made her a respected member of the academic world as well.
Biography:
Liz Rosenberg was born on February 3, 1958 in Glen Cove, NY to Ross and Lucille Rosenberg. During her youth, Rosenberg was exposed to a very literate lifestyle, as her parents were dedicated readers and Rosenberg began to read at the age of two. As she grew older and went off to school, literature and writing continued to follow her. The versatile writer first attended Bennington College in Vermont before heading to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she pursued her Masters degree. She then went on to attend the State University of New York at Binghamton where she earned her doctorate in Comparative Literature. Currently, she is a Professor of English at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
While she was still an undergraduate at Bennington she had the opportunity to study under John Gardner. Gardner was already a noted novelist and an influential figure in the world of literature, counting writers such as Raymond Carver among his friends. He had published several novels, including the widely popular Grendel, for which he won a National Book Award, in 1971.
A romance ensued between Rosenberg and Gardner and the two were married in 1980, only to be divorced two years later. They remained close in spite of the separation. While still with Gardner in the late 1970's and early 80's, they lived first in Lanesboro, Pennsylvania and then in Susquehanna. Some of northeastern Pennsylvania's influence can be seen in Rosenberg's writing. One of her early poems, "Susquehanna Nights" comments on the nature she could so easily observe while living in a farm house on a thirty-acre countryside.
Six days after their divorce was finalized, Gardner was killed in a motorcycle accident. Rosenberg was married the following year to David Bosnick, a fellow writer and teacher. This second marriage produced her only child, Eli.
Children have been an important part of her professional life as well. Rosenberg is perhaps best known as a children's author. She has won a Children's Choice award for her work. Her book The Carousel was featured on the popular PBS children's show Reading Rainbow. Her first book aimed at children was Adelaide and the Night Train in 1989. In it, she describes the views seen by a little girl being put to bed as the train she is on takes off through the night. Other children's books soon followed upon the success of her first venture. In all, Rosenberg has written sixteen children's books ranging across many topics but usually with an emphasis on family.
Rosenberg writes for children because she feels a strong connection to childhood herself. She is still a self-proclaimed child and says the birth of her son has also affected her desire to write to children. Says Rosenberg: "I write for my children whether I am conscious of it or not. It stems from the love I feel for them, and my own ongoing connection to childhood, to children, and to childishness."
Heart and Soul marked her undertaking of a new literary genre, the young adult novel, in 1996. In 2002, she followed up this work with 17: A Novel in Prose Poems in which she combined her skills as a young adult author with her poetic talents to write a very unique type of teen-oriented novel. This novel tells us the story of a slightly neurotic seventeen year-old girl going through some social and personal problems common to adolescence. Aside from her writing, she is also a frequent contributor to both the Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe as a reviewer of children's books.
While Rosenberg has certainly made a name for herself in the arenas of children's and teen's books, her literary career began as a poet; The Angel Poems, published in 1984, introduced her as a talented new voice to American poetry. The following years and subsequent collections only confirmed her obvious talent. In all, she has published three poetry collections and has served as an editor for four other collections and anthologies. She has also been selected as a judge for the Hopkins Award and for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize as well as being frequent contributor to the American Poetry Review.
Rosenberg was awarded the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for children's poetry in 2001. In addition, she has won the Claudia Lewis Poetry Prize, Patterson Prize, the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize, and has received Books of Distinction awards for Hungry Mind Review and for Roots and Flowers: An Anthology of Poems About Family. Her work was featured in one of the Public Poetry Project posters in 2002.
Rosenberg is equally as committed to teaching as she is to writing. She has taught at Colgate University, Bennington College, and Hollins College. She received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. She currently teaches classes in writing at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, New York, in addition to her professorship at SUNY- Binghamton.
Works:
Poetry
Children's Books
Young Adult Books
Sources:
This biographical sketch was prepared by Wes Cronkite.