Ruth Seid

Ruth Seid (pseudonym Jo Sinclair , born July 1, 1913 in Brooklyn , New York City , † April 4, 1995 in Jenkintown , Pennsylvania ) was an American author .

biography

Seid was born in Brooklyn , New York City , the fifth child of Jewish immigrants . Her parents were Nathan Seid and Ida Kravetsky. Her parents moved to Cleveland , Ohio as a child in 1916 . Seid attended John Hay High School , where she studied English and journalism. After completing her studies, she initially found a job, but then became unemployed as a result of the Great Depression . She then worked in a factory and in a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Seid was then employed as a clerk for the Cleveland American Red Cross .

In addition to her work, Seid started writing as an author in her spare time. She wrote short stories and articles. In 1937 she sold her first story to Esquire under the pseudonym Jo Sinclair , which appeared in the January issue of Esquire.

In 1945 Seid wrote the work Wasteland about the everyday life of American Jewish immigrants from Russia. She won the Harper & Brothers competition with this novel and received $ 10,000 in prize money. This enabled her to write more books in the following years: Sing at My Wake (1951, McGraw), The Changelings (1955, McGraw) and Anna Teller (1960, McKay).

In addition to these four novels, Seid also wrote several short stories and an edition of the memoir The Seasons: Death and Transfiguration (Feminist Press, 1993). On April 4, 1995, Seid died of cancer in Jenkintown , Pennsylvania , at the age of 81 .

Works (selection)

• Wasteland , (1945)
• Sing at My Wake (1951, McGraw)
• The Changelings (1955, McGraw)
• Anna Teller (1960, McKay)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature: First Supplement, edited by Stanley J. Kunitz, New York, The HW Wilson Company, 1955]
2. ↑ New York Times: