Laurie Rozakis (born July 20, 1952) is a writer of the '' Complete Idiot's'' books and an expert on writing, grammar, usage, test preparation, and coaching writers.''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

in 1973; her

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from Hofstra in 1975; and her PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1984."The Ubiquitous 'Idiots Guides' Are Not Being Written by Idiots." By Marjorie Kaufman. ''The New York Times'', September 21, 1997, p. 6 Long Island Section.

Career highlights

Rozakis got her start as a writer in 1981 when she published a review book on the Advanced Placement exam in English Literature with ARCO. To date, she has published more than 100 books and articles. In addition to writing, Rozakis has been teaching for 42 years. Rozakis's first work was a series of books for test preparation (The ''New GED, College English Placement and Proficiency Exam,'' ''Reading Power: Getting Started'', and ''Power Reading''.) She continued writing widely on test preparation, publishing three test prep books for elementary and middle-school students through Scholastic.

''Complete Idiot's Guides''

Between 1995 and 2003, Rozakis wrote more than a dozen books in the ''

Complete Idiot's Guides The ''Complete Idiot's Guides'' ("''The Idiot's Guide to'' ..." series) is a product line of how-to and other reference books published by Dorling Kindersley (DK). The books in this series provide a basic understanding of a complex and popular t ...

'' series, including ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing'', ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Research Methods'' and ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style''. She has revised many of the books for subsequent editions.

Scholarship

Rozakis's early scholarship focused on writing, including articles on evaluating writing for ''SUNY Councils on Writing'', ''The Missouri English Bulletin'', ''Exercise Exchange'', and ''Kansas English''. Subsequently, she turned to early American literature, publishing "A New Source for Hawthorne's Hester Prynne" in ''American Transcendental Quarterly: A Journal of New England Writers'' (1986). This was followed by “Puritan Punishment for Adulterous Conduct” in ''The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review'' (1990). In 2004, she wrote essays on

Louis Simpson Louis Aston Marantz Simpson (March 27, 1923 – September 14, 2012) was an American poet born in Jamaica. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work ''At the End of the Open Road''. Life and career Simpson was born in Jamaica, the s ...

and

Alicia Ostriker Alicia Suskin Ostriker (born November 11, 1937) is an American poet and scholar who writes Jewish feminist poetry.Powell C.S. (1994) ''Profile: Jeremiah and Alicia Ostriker – A Marriage of Science and Art'', Scientific American 271(3), 28- ...

for the ''Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature''. She wrote an analysis of classic American novels for the PBS televisions series ''The American Novel'' (2007).

Video instruction

Rozakis has combined her expertise with writing and speaking in a series of instructional videos. These include a 10 CD/video series: ''Upgrade Your Writing Skills'' (2006–07) and a four CD/video series: ''SAT Subject Test, English'' (2008) for Video Aided Instruction.

Writing coach

Rozakis also works as a writing coach for fiction (novels and short stories), academic writing, and memoirs, helping writers organize their ideas, craft their sentences and find their individual voice.

Speaking career

Rozakis has a career as a public speaker, giving frequent lectures, seminars, and interviews. Her television work includes serving as the "Vocabulary Judge" in the Word of the Day final contest on ''

Live with Regis and Kelly ''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated breakfast television, morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show ...

'', being a grammar expert on ''

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Curt Menefee. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox C ...

'', and being part of a panel on the CBS ''The Morning Show'' and another on the '' Maury Povich Show''. She has been interviewed for ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

,'' the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

,'' ''

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

,'' ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

,'' the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

,''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''Morning Edition,'' ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

,'' '' The Newark Star-Ledger,'' '' Seventeen'' magazine, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

,'' ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

,'' and ''

,'' on grammar and test preparation,

Personal life

Rozakis is married to former comic book writer and editor

Bob Rozakis Robert "Bob" Rozakis (; born April 4, 1951) is an American comic book writer and editor known mainly for his work in the 1970s and 1980s at DC Comics, as the writer of '' 'Mazing Man'' and in his capacity as DC's "Answer Man". Career Bob Rozakis ...

, with whom she has collaborated on a few comic book stories, as well as ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Office Politics'' They have two children, son Charles "Chuck", who wrote his

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

thesis on the business viability of

webcomics Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

, and daughter Samantha "Sammi".

Honors and awards

Rozakis has received a number of noteworthy awards including being named the

Town of Oyster Bay The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns that make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore o ...

"Woman of Distinction" in the Arts (2008). She won The State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1994 and number of fellowships, including several Joint Labor/Management Committee Individual Development Awards, a Porter Fellowship, a Farmingdale College Foundation Faculty Merit Award, and an Empire State Challenger Fellowship.Rozakis profile at Farmingdale College website.
Her career and life are profiled in the reference books ''Contemporary Authors'' and ''Something About the Author''.

Bibliography (selected)

Books

* ''New GED, College English Placement and Proficiency Exam'' (ARCO) * ''Reading Power: Getting Started'' (ARCO) * ''Power Reading'' (ARCO) * ''Holistic Evaluation: A Primer,'' Kansas English (University of Topeka: Topeka, Kansas). * ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Office Politics'' (with Bob Rozakis) (Alpha Books, 1998) * ''The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creative Writing'' (Alpha Books) * ''The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Research Methods'' (Alpha Books) * ''The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Grammar and Style'' (Alpha Books)

Articles

* “Holistic Evaluation of Writing: A Grading Practicum” ''Proceedings of the SUNY Council on Writing 3rd Annual Conference'' (pp. 97–112) * “To Change the Things that Can be Changed.” ''The Missouri English Bulletin''. * “A Placement Writing Program,” ''Exercise Exchange'' (Utah State University: Logan, Utah.) * “Establishing, Administering, and Holistically Scoring an English Placement Writing Assessment.” ''The Minnesota English Journal'' (St. Cloud State University, MN) * “A New Source for Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne,” ''American Transcendental Quarterly: A Journal of New England Writers'' (1986). * “Puritan Punishment for Adulterous Conduct” ''The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review'' (Vol. XV, No. 2, 1990). * Essays on Louis Simpson and Alicia Ostriker for ''Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature''. Greenwood Press, Emmanuel S. Nelson, ed. (2004).

Notes

References

*"COOL 2 KNOW." Caryn Eve Murray, Judith H. Bernstein. '' Knight Ridder Tribune Business News''. May 9, 2007. p. 1 *This Week's Festival Lineup; Fourth Edition ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

''. St. Louis, Mo.: Nov 4, 2007. p. F.9

External links

*
Laurie Rozakis
at Farmingdale State College {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozakis, Laurie 1952 births Living people 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers American female comics writers Hofstra University alumni Stony Brook University alumni