Fern Lee Kupfer is an American author and retired professor of creative writing at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

. She has written several novels and as well as memoirs reflecting on her life experiences, the discovery that she is a carrier of the BRCA gene, and the loss of her son to

Canavan disease Canavan disease, or Canavan-Van Bogaert-Bertrand disease, is a rare and fatal autosomal recessive degenerative disease that causes progressive damage to nerve cells and loss of white matter in the brain. It is one of the most common degenerative ...

Life and career

Kupfer was born in 1946 and grew up in

Plainview, Long Island Plainview is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located near the North Shore of Long Island in the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 27,100. The Plainview post office has ...

. In 1968 she received her BA from

State University of New York at Cortland State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. She moved to Iowa with her first husband in the early 1970s after having been a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

English teacher and working at a

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

center in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

.Balk, Brenda and Mitchell, Jeff (11 March 2002)
"Kupfer maintains connections"
''

Iowa State Daily The ''Iowa State Daily'' is an independent student newspaper serving Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, that is published in print and online. It was founded in 1890, and is largely funded by advertising revenues. The Iowa State University ...

''. Retrieved 27 December 2012. She received her master's degree in English from

in 1975, with a thesis on the concept of

androgyny Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in ...

in the novels of

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

and later taught creative writing at the university for many years. She has written several novels and two memoirs as well as contributing regular columns to the ''

Ames Tribune ''The Ames Tribune'' is a newspaper published Tuesday through Sunday based in Ames, Iowa. The newspaper is owned by Gannett. In 1986, the ''Tribune'' was bought by Michael Gartner and Gary Gerlach, two former executives at ''The Des Moines Regis ...

'' and '' Newsday''. Her first book, ''Before and After Zachariah'', originally published by

Delacorte Press Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and so ...

in 1982, is a reflection on her family's decision to institutionalize her severely handicapped son. The experience made her an advocate for parents who choose institutionalized care for children with severe disabilities. The book has had 5 editions published between 1982 and 1998 and has also been published in French as ''Avant et après Zacharie''. Her most recent memoir, ''Leaving Long Island and other departures'', published in 2012, includes her experiences of divorce, the discovery that she carries the BRCA gene, and raising a

blended family A stepfamily is a family where at least one parent has children that are not biologically related to their spouse. Either parent, or both, may have children from previous relationships or marriages. Two known classifications for stepfamilies i ...

Personal life

Kupfer's first marriage to Joseph Kupfer, a philosophy scholar whom she married in

Williamsville, New York Williamsville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Erie County, New York, Erie County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 5,423 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an e ...

in the late 1960s, ended in divorce. They had two children, a daughter, Gabi and their late son, Zachariah. She is now married to

Joseph Geha Joseph Geha (born 1944, Zahle, Lebanon), professor-emeritus at Iowa State University, is the author of two books, ''Through and Through: Toledo Stories,'' one of the first books of modern Arab-American fiction, and ''Lebanese Blonde,'' a novel. H ...

, a

Lebanese-American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

academic and author of the novel, ''Lebanese Blonde''. The couple live in Ames, Iowa.

Bibliography

* Kupfer, Fern. ''Leaving Long Island and other departures.'' Ames, Iowa: Culicidae Press (2012). * Kupfer, Fern. "Another Traditional Arab Jewish Potluck" in ''The Secret Lives of Lawfully Wedded Wives: 27 Women Writers on Love, Infidelity, Sex Roles, Race, Kids, and More.'' Ed. Autumn Stephens. Novato, CA: New World Library (2006). * Kupfer, Fern. "Trust" in ''Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales.''Ed. Kate Bernheimer. New York, NY: Anchor (1998). * Kupfer, Fern. ""Sleepwalking Through Suburbia" in ''Nice Jewish Girls.'' Ed. Marlene Adler Marks. New York, NY: Plume (1996). * Kupfer, Fern. ''Love Lies.'' New York:

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

(1994). * Kupfer, Fern. ''No Regrets''. New York:

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

(1989). * Kupfer, Fern. ''Surviving the Seasons.'' New York:

(1987). Solomon, Charles (20 August 1989)
"Review: ''Surviving the Seasons'' by Fern Kupfer"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. Retrieved 27 December 2012. * Kupfer, Fern. ''Before and After Zachariah.'' New York: Delacorte Press (1982).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupfer, Fern 1946 births Living people Iowa State University faculty American women writers People from Plainview, New York State University of New York at Cortland alumni American women academics 21st-century American women