née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
'' Grossman; June 26, 1936 – January 1, 2023) was an American
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
writer.Edith Pearlman Author Spotlight, Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories
Early life and career
Pearlman was born in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
, where she grew up in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood, the daughter of Edna (Rosen) and Herman Paul Grossman, an ophthalmologist. Her father was born in Ukraine, and her maternal grandparents emigrated from Poland. She graduated from
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
. She has worked in a computer firm and a soup kitchen and has served in the Town Meeting of Brookline, Massachusetts.
Her non-fiction has appeared in ''
The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
Smithsonian Magazine
''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.
History
The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' ma ...
Ploughshares
''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...
''. Her travel writing – about the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...
,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, and
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
– has been published in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and elsewhere.
In January 2015, her fifth collection of short stories, ''Honeydew'', was chosen as one of Oprah Winfrey's 'top 19 books to read right now'.
Personal life and death
Pearlman lived in
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and ...
, with her husband. They had two children.
Pearlman died in Brookline on January 1, 2023, at the age of 86.
Awards and honors
Source:
*2014
Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize
The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host '' Jewish Quarterly'' and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate. The award recognises Jewish and non-Jewish writers r ...
Best American Short Stories 2006
''The Best American Short Stories 2006'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Katrina Kenison and by guest editor Ann Patchett.Review, Booklist, October 15, 2006 This edition is notable in that it was the last edi ...
Best American Short Stories 2000
The Best American Short Stories 2000 is a volume in The Best American Short Stories series. It was edited by Katrina Kenison and by guest editor E. L. Doctorow
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American noveli ...
, "Allog"
*1999
The Antioch Review
''The Antioch Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1941 at Antioch College in Ohio. The magazine was published on a quarterly basis. One of the oldest continuously published literary magazines in the United States prior to it ...
Distinguished Fiction Award
*1998
Best American Short Stories 1998
''The Best American Short Stories 1998'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Katrina Kenison and by guest editor Garrison Keillor.A GOOD TIME TO BUY THE BEST, ''Hartford Courant'' Oct. 25, 1998
Short stories i ...
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language.
This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States was initiated in 1981 by Drue Heinz ...
* Winner of Spokane Prize for Literature
* Winner of
Mary McCarthy Prize
Sarabande Books is an American not-for-profit literary press founded in 1994. It is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, with an office in New York City. Sarabande publishes contemporary poetry and nonfiction. Sarabande is a literary press whos ...