Kate Simon (December 5, 1912 – February 4, 1990) was a Polish-born American writer.

Life and career

She was born Kaila Grobsmith in

Warsaw, Poland Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

, the daughter of David Grobsmith, a shoe designer, and Lonia Grobsmith née Babicz, a corsetiere. Her Jewish family brought her to the United States when she was four, where they rejoined her father. Kate was raised in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

, and attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

where she earned a B.A. Her writing career began as a book reviewer for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' magazines. She worked for

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...

, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', and as a free-lance editor for Alfred A. Knopf. Simon became one of America's best known travel writers; several of her guides became best sellers. Her autobiography was written in three parts. The first, ''Bronx Primitive: Portraits in a Childhood'' (1982) was one of the New York Times twelve best books of 1982 and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. This was followed by ''Wider World: Portraits in an Adolescence'' (1986) that told of her teen age period and college experiences. The third volume, ''Etchings in an Hourglass'' (1990) is about her adulthood. Her work, ''Fifth Avenue: A Very Social Story'' (1978), is a social history of Manhattan. ''A Renaissance Tapestry: The Gonzaga of Mantua'' (1988) tells the story of the Renaissance through the history of the Gonzaga family. She was married twice. Her first common-law husband, Stanley Goldman, died, as did her only child Alexandra and her sister, all of brain tumors. She was divorced from Robert Simon in 1947.

Bibliography

* ''Etchings in an Hourglass'' (1990) * ''A Renaissance tapestry: the Gonzaga of Mantua'' (1989) * ''Mexico, places and pleasures'' (1988) * ''A wider world: portraits in an adolescence'' (1986) * ''Italy: the places in between'' (1984) * ''Bronx primitive: portraits in a childhood'' (1982) * ''Fifth Avenue: a very social history'' (1979) * ''England's green and pleasant land'' (1974) * ''Rome: places and pleasures'' (1972) * ''Paris places and pleasures: an uncommon guidebook'' (1971) * ''New York places & pleasures: an uncommon guidebook'' (1971) * ''London places & pleasures: an uncommon guidebook'' (1968) * ''Mexico: places & pleasures'' (1963)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Kate 1912 births 1990 deaths People from the Bronx Polish emigrants to the United States American travel writers Hunter College alumni The New Republic people American women travel writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers