Barbara Goldberg (born 1943) is an American poet, author, translator, and editor from Maryland.

Early life and education

Goldberg grew up in

Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a mostly residential neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeast, ...

> New York. She is a first generation American. Her parents were immigrants from Europe after fleeing from the Holocaust. The language her family spoke in their home was German. She attended Russell Sage Junior High. She attended

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

for her undergraduate degree in philosophy. Goldberg graduated in 1963 with Phi Beta Kappa recognition. Goldberg attended Columbia University for a Master of Education and graduated in 1970. She later earned her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

in 1985.

Career

Goldberg started her poetry career in her 30s. Goldberg's poetry deals with themes including magical realism, honesty, authenticity, sensual imagery, and wit. Goldberg was the Poet-in-Residence in

Howard County, Maryland Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 287,085. As of the 2020 census its population rose to 328,200. Its county seat is Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Colu ...

in 1999. The program was sponsored by the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society. During her time in this position, Goldberg visited ten high schools in the county to teach poetry. She has received several grants from the Maryland Arts Council. She has also taught poetry and creative writing at Georgetown University, American University's MFA program, and the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She was the executive editor of ''Poet Lore'' magazine. Goldberg was a senior speechwriter for AARP. Goldberg works as a series editor of Word Works, Word Works International Editions. Goldberg has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. One of these awards was for a $20,000 literacy fellowship. She has also been a fellow at Yaddo, the MacDowell (artists' residency and workshop), MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has done readings and presented her works to several programs, organizations, and associations, including the American Literary Translators Association, Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Associated of Writers and Writing Programs, the International Monetary Fund, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Carter Center. Her works have been included in several literacy publications, including ''Poetry (magazine), Poetry'', the The Paris Review, ''Paris'' ''Review'', the Harvard Review, ''Harvard'' ''Review'', the The Gettysburg Review, ''Gettysburg'' ''Review'', The Best American Poetry, ''Best'' ''American'' ''Poetry'', and the The American Poetry Review, ''American'' ''Poetry'' ''Review''.

Awards

Goldberg has received several awards for her writing. She received two PEN America, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Awards. In 2008, she received the University of Wisconsin Press, Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry for ''The Royal Baker’s Daughter''. She also won the Valentin Krustev Award in translation for her work ''Transformation: The Poetry of Translation'', the Witter Bynner Poetry Prize, Witter Bynner Foundation Award for ''The Stones Remember'', the Violet Reed Haas Poetry Prize for ''Marvelous Pursuits'', and the Camden Poetry Award for ''Cautionary Tales''. Her poem “Fortune’s Darling” won the Emily Dickinson Award.

Works

Poetry

* ''Berta Broadfoot and Pepin the Short: A Merovingian Romance'' (1986), , OCLC 729771175 * ''Cautionary Tales'' (1990), , OCLC 731523419 * ''Marvelous Pursuits'' (1995), , OCLC 32538889 * ''The Royal Baker's Daughter'' (2008), , OCLC 636803506 * ''Transformation'' (2019), , OCLC 1084561966

Translations

* ''The Fire Stays in Red: Poems'' by Ronny Someck (2002) translated by Goldberg and Israeli poet Moshe Dor, , OCLC 316869644 * ''Scorched by the Sun'', poems by Dor, , OCLC 930811146

Editor

* ''The Stones Remember: Native Israeli Poetry'' (1991) edited by Dor, Goldberg, and Giora Leshem, Giora Lesham, , OCLC 23930833 * ''The First Yes: Poems About Communicating'' (1996), , OCLC 35758082 * ''Open Door: Selected Poems from Poet Lore, 1980-1996'' (1996) by Roland Flint and edited by Goldberg, Philip K. Jason, and Geraldine Connolly, * ''After the First Rain: Israeli Poems on War and Peace'' (1998) edited by Dor and Goldberg, , OCLC 37890562

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Barbara 1943 births Mount Holyoke College alumni 21st-century American women writers Teachers College, Columbia University alumni People from Forest Hills, Queens Writers from Queens, New York 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets Poets from New York (state) 21st-century American poets American women poets American University alumni Living people