Eve Merriam

Template:Infobox writer Eve Merriam (July 19, 1916 – April 11, 1992) was an American poet and writer.

Writing careerEdit

Merriam's first book was the 1946 Family Circle, which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize.<ref>Biography of Eve Merriam at the Poetry Foundation, poetryfoundation.org. Accessed November 6, 2022.</ref> In 1956, she published Emma Lazarus: Woman with a Torch.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her book, The Inner City Mother Goose (1969), was described as one of the most banned books of the time.<ref name=american-poets> Biography of Eve Merriam at the Academy of American Poets, poets.org. Accessed November 6, 2022.</ref> It inspired a 1971 Broadway musical called Inner City, later revived in 1982 under the title Street Dreams.<ref name=american-poets /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1981, she won the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.<ref name=american-poets /> One of her books for children is Halloween ABC. She published over 30 books,<ref name="UPI obit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and taught at both City College and New York University.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1977, composer Patsy Rogers used Merriam’s text for her opera Woman Alive: Conversation Against Death.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The play Out of Our Father's House, adapted by Merriam, Jack Hofsiss and Paula Wagner from Merriam's book Growing Up Female in America, with music by Ruth Crawford Seeger, was televised on the Great Performances series in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Wagner, Paula; Hofsiss, Jack'; Merriam, Eve (1975). Out of Our Father's House. New York: Samuel French. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Born Eva Moskovitz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Eve Merriam was one of four children of Russian Jewish immigrants Max Moscovitz and Jennie Siegel.<ref name="UPI obit"/><ref name="USSSNIF">"United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K9K-4P3N : 10 February 2023), Eva Moskovitz, .</ref><ref name="USC1920">"United States Census, 1920", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF1C-Z9C : Fri Oct 06 21:31:58 UTC 2023), Entry for Max Moskovitz and Jennie Moskovitz, 1920.</ref> After graduating with an A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937,<ref name="UPI obit"/><ref>Eve Merriam, 75, Poet and Author Who Wrote for Children, Is Dead https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/13/nyregion/eve-merriam-75-poet-and-author-who-wrote-for-children-is-dead.html?smid=nytcore-android-share</ref> Merriam moved to New York to pursue graduate studies at Columbia University. She was married four times, with the first three ending in divorce: Erwin Spitzer (1939-1947), Martin Michel (1947-1960), and Leonard C. Lewin (1963-1980). She married screenwriter Waldo Salt in 1983 and remained with him until his death in 1987, and in the process became Jennifer Salt's stepmother.

DeathEdit

Merriam died on April 11, 1992, in Manhattan from liver cancer; she was 75.

ReferencesEdit

Core biographical materialEdit

"Eve Merriam, Poet and Author Who Wrote for Children, Is Dead," Bruce Lambert, The New York Times, April 13, 1992.
Heffer, Helen Ruth Julian. A Checklist of Works by and about Eve Merriam. Master's thesis, University of Maryland, 1980. Includes 84-page biographical essay.
Copeland, J. S., Speaking of Poets: Interviews with Poets Who Write for Children and Young Adults (1993).
short biography from Wisconsin Writers' Collection at MITH
Biography at Jewish Women's Archive
“Eve Merriam.” In Anne Commire, ed., Something About the Author, vol. 40. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1985.

In other worksEdit

Randy Shilts. The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life & Times of Harvey Milk (New York: St. Martins, 1982).
Kate Weigand. Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).

Archival materialsEdit

Finding Aid for holdings related to Eve Merriam in the University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collection
Papers, 1840-1978 (inclusive), 1930-1978 (bulk): A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library Template:Webarchive, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Additional papers, 1960-1984 (inclusive), 1978-1984 (bulk): A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library Template:Webarchive, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Additional papers of Eve Merriam, ca.1930-1992: A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library Template:Webarchive, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
Audiovisual collection of Eve Merriam, 1964-1992: A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library Template:Webarchive, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

NotesEdit

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External linksEdit

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