Author. She was a novelist who published numerous works, mostly dealing with the unpleasant aspects of family relationships. Raised in New York by a German immigrant mother and Virginian father, she graduated from Hunter High School in 1928 and Barnard College in 1932, with a major in literature. Though she long had a love for writing, keeping journals from the age of 7 and composing poetry for herself, it was some years before she wrote for publication. She penned a series of fictionalized autobiographical stories, five of which were printed in "The New Yorker". In 1951, she published a collection of short stories, "In the Absence of Angels", which was followed by her first novel "False Entry" in 1961. Her 23 novels and anthologies are noted for their themes of failure, as well as for complicated plots and difficult sentence structure. A slow writer, she still kept up a steady output; she was a National Book Award finalist three times, won an O. Henry Award for "The Night Club in the Woods", and was awarded the 1986 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for "The Bobby Soxer". Miss Calisher served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and of the international writers group PEN. In addition to her fiction she published her autobiography "Herself" in 1972 and the memoir "Tattoo for a Slave" in 2004. Continuing to write into her 90s, her final novel was the 2003 "Sunday Jews".
Author. She was a novelist who published numerous works, mostly dealing with the unpleasant aspects of family relationships. Raised in New York by a German immigrant mother and Virginian father, she graduated from Hunter High School in 1928 and Barnard College in 1932, with a major in literature. Though she long had a love for writing, keeping journals from the age of 7 and composing poetry for herself, it was some years before she wrote for publication. She penned a series of fictionalized autobiographical stories, five of which were printed in "The New Yorker". In 1951, she published a collection of short stories, "In the Absence of Angels", which was followed by her first novel "False Entry" in 1961. Her 23 novels and anthologies are noted for their themes of failure, as well as for complicated plots and difficult sentence structure. A slow writer, she still kept up a steady output; she was a National Book Award finalist three times, won an O. Henry Award for "The Night Club in the Woods", and was awarded the 1986 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for "The Bobby Soxer". Miss Calisher served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and of the international writers group PEN. In addition to her fiction she published her autobiography "Herself" in 1972 and the memoir "Tattoo for a Slave" in 2004. Continuing to write into her 90s, her final novel was the 2003 "Sunday Jews".
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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