Becky Birtha (born October 11, 1948) is an American poet and children's author who lives in the greater

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

area. She is best known for her poetry and short stories depicting

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

and

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

relationships, often focusing on topics such as interracial relationships, emotional recovery from a breakup, single parenthood and adoption. Her poetry was featured in the acclaimed 1983 anthology of African-American feminist writing '' Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology'', edited by

Barbara Smith Barbara Smith (born November 16, 1946) is an American lesbian feminist and socialist who has played a significant role in Black feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s, she has been active as a scholar, activist, critic, lecturer, ...

and published by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She has won a

Lambda Literary The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legaci ...

award for her poetry. She has been awarded grants from the

Pew Fellowships in the Arts A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryman A ...

, the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and the

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts {{Short description, American arts agency in the state of Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is an agency serving the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to strengthen the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of P ...

to further her literary works. In recent years she has written three children's historical fiction picture books about the African-American experience.

Early life

Rebecca Lucille Birtha was born on October 11, 1948, in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

, to Jessie Dixon Moore Birtha and Herbert Marshall Birtha. She is the younger sister of Rachel Roxanne Birtha Eitches, a former international radio broadcaster for the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. She self-identifies as an African American with

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Catawba Catawba may refer to: *Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas *Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family *Catawban languages Botany *Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other ...

, African, and Irish heritage, all of which inform her writing. Birtha grew up in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

after the family moved to the Germantown section of the city in 1952. (Back cover). In 1963 the family relocated to the West Mount Airy neighborhood and Birtha attended the

Philadelphia High School for Girls Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urb ...

. She attended the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...

for a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Studies in 1973 and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing from the

Vermont College of Fine Arts Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level college affiliated with California Institute of the Arts. It offers Master's degrees in a low-residency format. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award wi ...

in 1984. In addition to her writing, she has worked as a teacher, a legal librarian, and as a representative for an adoption agency.

Career and writings

Birtha's first published book of short stories was ''For Nights Like This One: Stories of Loving Women'' (1983), an anthology of short stories about lesbian relationships. Her second book, ''Lovers' Choice'', continues Birtha's focus upon the experience of marginalized African-American women in such stories as "Route 23: 10th and Bigler to Bethlehem Pike", in which a desperate mother takes her children on an all-night public bus ride through the city of Philadelphia in order to keep them warm. She wrote the foreword for ''Breaking Silence'' (1983) by Anne B. Keating in November 1983. Birtha and Keating were members of a local feminist writers' workshop in Philadelphia under the aegis of a local chapter of the Feminist Writers Guild. In 1991, Birtha published ''The Forbidden Poems'', an anthology of poetry focusing on lesbian relationships. According to Birtha, "Several f thepoems were written as part of the process of recovering from the breakup of a 10-year lesbian relationship, of trying to find a way to deal with the feelings that the breakup produced in er. The ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' review of ''The Forbidden Poems'' states that in her writings Birtha exhibits a "considerable ability to endow ordinary perceptions and occurrences with a profound significance" in her depictions of a lesbian community that is "stable, loving and creative--and whose members can all make a great cup of tea: 'even a hardcore stomping deisel dyke / can't ruin a pot of boiling water.'" Her works have been published in '' Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians'', '' Conditions'', ''

Sinister Wisdom ''Sinister Wisdom'' is an American lesbian literary, theory, and art journal published quarterly in Berkeley, California. Started in 1976 by Catherine Nicholson and Harriet Ellenberger (Desmoines) in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is the longest ...

'' and ''Women: a Journal of Liberation''. She writes book reviews for ''The New Women's Times Feminist Review''. Ed Hermance, owner and manager of the

gay and lesbian bookstore

Giovanni's Room ''Giovanni's Room'' is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. The book concerns the events in the life of an American man living in Paris and his feelings and frustrations with his relationships with other men in his life, particularly an Italian barte ...

, has stated that Birtha's stories "have a vivid sense of place as well as an emotional depth rare among storytellers". Speaking at the 13th Annual Trenton Writers Conference in 1994, Birtha discussed her career as a writer, stating: "Have being black, a woman and lesbian been the biggest barriers I have had to overcome to become a successful writer? ... No, in fact,... I celebrate it. I am also an adoptive parent, a single mother and a Quaker, and that has not stopped me from writing, either." In later years, Birtha transitioned to writing primarily for children. Her first children's book ''Grandmama’s Pride'' (2005) has earned the Golden Kite book award and placement in the master reading lists of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Georgia. Her second picture book ''Lucky Beans'' (2010) was named as one of the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2010 as well as one of ''

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...

''′s 2010 Notable Books for Children. Birtha is a member of the

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers ...

Personal life

Birtha lived with her partner Nancy and daughter Tasha in

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylv ...

. As of 2021, she is the caretaker for her elderly mother and resides in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. She practiced Balkan folkdancing for over seventeen years and later studied other forms of modern and folk dance. Birtha is a member of the

Royal Scottish Country Dance Society The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS), was founded on 28 November 1923 as the Scottish Country Dance Society by Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart of Fasnacloich, who wanted to preserve country dancing as performed in Scotland, countr ...

. Her current hobbies are folk dance and playing the

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

. She is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

). In February, 1991, she gave a keynote address to the

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) is a faith community within the Religious Society of Friends in the US. Purpose From a minute approved in 1999, FLGBTQC states: FLGBTQC publishes a semi-annual newslet ...

conference in which she described writing as a meditative and healing process that connects her to her Quaker faith.

Awards

In 1985, Becky Birtha received an Individual Fellowship in Literature from the

. She later received a Creative Writing Fellowship Grant from the

in 1988. She won a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

in 1989 for her story "Johnnieruth". In 1992, she won one of the

4th Lambda Literary Awards The 4th Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1992 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1991. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 4th Lambda Literary Awards
{{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards ceremoni ...

for her anthology of lesbian poetry, ''The Forbidden Poems'' (1991). She was awarded one of the

grants for $50,000 for the year 1993. Her children's book ''Grandmama's Pride'' (2005) won the 2005

Golden Kite Honor Book for Picture Book Text. Her children's book ''Lucky Beans'' (2010) won the 2010 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award.

Selected work

Short stories * ''For Nights Like This One: Stories of Loving Women'', Frog in the Well (January 1983). * ''Lovers' Choice'', The Seal Press (1987). Poetry * ''The Forbidden Poems'', The Seal Press (1991). Anthologies * "Jonnieruth" in McMillan, Terry, ed. ''Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American fiction'',

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

(1990). . Also in Busby, Margaret, ed. '' Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent'', London: Jonathan Cape (1992). * "Babies" in Mullen, Bill, ed. ''Revolutionary Tales: African American Women's Short Stories, from the First Story to the Present'', Laurel Press (1995). * "Ice Castles" in Ruff, Shawn Stewart, ed. ''Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Fiction by African-American Writers'', H. Holt (1996). * "Maria de las Rosas" in Smith, Barbara, ed. ''Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology'',

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Pub ...

(2000). Bibliography * ''Literature by Black Women: A List of Books'' (1983) Children's books * ''Grandmama's Pride'', Albert Whitman & Co. (2005). * ''Lucky Beans'', Albert Whitman & Co. (2010). *''Far Apart, Close in Heart'', Albert Whitman & Co. (2017).

References