Re: RIP Grace Paley

Ralph DeMarco — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:45:39 -0000

I saw Grace Paley at Vassar back in the 90s. She was a great reader, warm and funny. Here is what Vassar's Website says about her:

Grace Paley, the first recipient of the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit, was born in the Bronx in 1922. She is the author of three highly acclaimed collections of short fiction--The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the Same Day (1985)--as well as three collections of poetry, including Leaning Forward, also published in 1985. Ms. Paley has taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universitites, and currently teaches at both City College of New York, where she is writer-in-residence, and Sarah Lawrence College, where she has taught creative writing and literature for 18 years. She received a Guggenheim fellowhsip in 1961, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966, and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970. She is a member of the Executive Board of P.E.N. Actively involved in anti-war, feminist and anti-nuclear movements, Ms. Paley has been a member of the War Resisters' League, Resist, and Women's Pentagon Action, and was one of the founders of the Greenwich Village Peace Center in 1961; she regards herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist." Ms. Paley has two children and one grandchild, and divides her time between New York City and Thetford Hill, Vermont. In Spring 1987, Ms. Paley was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of her lifetime contribution to literature.

Re: RIP Grace Paley

estiv — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:02:11 -0000

There's a good overview here .

Re: RIP Grace Paley

estiv — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:45:55 -0000

Very good, Maud. I was introduced to her work about twelve years ago and pretty much devoured her collected stories. Like other fiction writers who began as poets, her command of language was at a very, very high level, but her concern for real-world matters (feminism being the most obvious) kept her rooted to the, well, real world. We were lucky to have her.

Re: RIP Grace Paley

blue girl — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:22:37 -0000

What a wonderful tribute, Maud. I'm sorry someone so special to you is gone.

I loved your description of you first meeting her. And thanks for all the links. I've got a lot of reading to do.

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