Lynne Sharon Schwartz (born March 19, 1939) is an American prose and poetry writer.

Biography

Schwartz grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the second of three children of Jack M. Sharon, a lawyer and accountant, and Sarah Slatus Sharon; she married Harry Schwartz in 1957. She holds a BA (1959) from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

, an MA (1961) from Bryn Mawr, and started work on a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

. Schwartz has taught in many universities and writing programs, including Bryn Mawr, Columbia, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, and the

University of Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...

. She is currently on faculty in the Writing Seminars MFA program at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

. Lynne Sharon Schwartz lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and has set a number of her books there as well. Though Schwartz is perhaps best known for her

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

, her work spans a number of genres, from

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

, and

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Selected works

*''Crossing Borders'' (

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpora ...

, 2018) *''Two-Part Inventions'' (Counterpoint, 2012), a novel based on the story of

Joyce Hatto Joyce Hilda Hatto (5 September 1928 – 29 June 2006) was an English concert pianist and piano teacher. In 1956 she married William Barrington-Coupe, a record producer who was convicted of Purchase Tax evasion in 1966. Hatto became famous very ...

and

William Barrington-Coupe William H. Barrington-Coupe (born William Halford Barrington Coupe, 1931 – 19 October 2014 and known as Barry) was a British record producer and music impresario. Married in 1956 to concert pianist Joyce Hatto, he was jailed for a year in 1966 ...

*''The Emergence of Memory: Conversations With W.G. Sebald'' (

, 2007) *''The Writing on the Wall: A Novel'' (Counterpoint, 2005) *''Referred Pain and Other Stories'' (

Counterpoint Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company distributed by Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Avalon Publishing Group's Shoemaker & Hoard and the independent ...

, 2004) *''In Solitary: Poems'' (Sheep Meadow, 2002) *''Face to Face: A Reader in the World'' (

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James B ...

, 2000) *''In the Family Way: an Urban Comedy'' ( William Morrow, 1999) *''Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books'' (Beacon Press, 1996) *''The Fatigue Artist'' (

Scribner Scribner may refer to: Media * Charles Scribner's Sons, also known as Scribner or Scribner's, New York City publisher * ''Scribner's Magazine'', pictorial published from 1887–1939 by Charles Scribner's Sons, then merged with the ''Commentator ...

, 1995) *''The Four Questions'' (Picture Puffins, 1994) *''Leaving Brooklyn'' (

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 1989) *''We are talking about homes: A great university against its neighbors'' (

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, 1985) *''Disturbances in the Field'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, 1983) *''Balancing Acts'' (HarperCollins, 1981) *''Rough Strife'' (HarperCollins, 1980) *''See You In The Dark'', a poetry collection *''Not Now, Voyager'', a memoir

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Lynne Sharon 1939 births Living people American women novelists American women poets American women short story writers American women essayists American memoirists American women memoirists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers 20th-century translators 21st-century American translators Italian–English translators Writers from Brooklyn Poets from New York (state) Barnard College alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni New York University alumni Bryn Mawr College faculty Columbia University faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Rice University faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Bennington College faculty University of Michigan faculty 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Novelists from Pennsylvania Novelists from Texas Novelists from Michigan Novelists from Missouri Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Iowa Novelists from Vermont