Marilyn Sachs
{{short description|American children's writer}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Marilyn Sachs.png
| name = Marilyn Sachs
| birth_name = Marilyn Stickle
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|12|18}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.{{citation|title=Sachs, Marilyn|id={{GND|13596475X}}}}
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{Death date and age|2016|12|28|1927|12|18}}}}
| death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| education = Hunter College (BA)
Columbia University (MLS)
| occupation = Author
| nationality = American
| period =
| genre = Children's literature
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = Veronica Ganz
| spouse = Morris Sachs
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
|
}}
Marilyn Sachs (December 18, 1927 – December 28, 2016) was an American author of award-winning children's books.
Early life and education
Sachs was born in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. She earned a bachelor's degree from Hunter College and a master's in library science from Columbia University.{{cite news|author1=J.K. Dineen|title=Marilyn Sachs, influential SF author and political activist, dies|url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Marilyn-Sachs-influential-SF-author-and-10829032.php|accessdate=December 31, 2016|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=December 31, 2016}} Sachs worked as a children's librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library while working toward her graduate degree.{{cite book|author1=Alethea Helbig|author2=Agnes Perkins|title=Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, 1960-1984|date=1986|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313252334|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pyjt9xhNKJ4C&q=Marilyn-Sachs&pg=PA569|accessdate=December 31, 2016}}
Career
Sachs began focusing on her writing during a leave of absence from her library job in 1954.{{cite web|author1=Shannon Maughan|title=Obituary: Marilyn Sachs|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/72430-obituary-marilyn-sachs.html|website=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=January 12, 2017|date=January 5, 2017}} Unable to sell her first novel, Amy Moves In, she set it aside and moved with her husband and children to San Francisco, California in 1961, taking a job at the Main Library.
Sachs found a publisher for her book in 1964. By 1968, she had made enough money from her first four published novels to quit her librarian job and become a full-time writer. Sachs wrote 40 books in total, between 1964 and 2006.
Personal life
While living in New York, Sachs was active in the political organization American Youth for Democracy, which is where she met her future husband, sculptor Morris Sachs. Sachs continued her activism later in life, fighting for public school integration and demonstrating against the Vietnam War. In 1991, she co-edited The Big Book for Peace; the proceeds were donated to peace organizations.
Death
Selected works
- {{cite book|title=Amy Moves In|date=1964|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780590323017}}
- {{cite book|title=Laura's Luck|url=https://archive.org/details/laurasluck00sach|url-access=registration|date=1965|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780385056878}}
- {{cite book|title=Amy and Laura|date=1966|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780590322997}}
- {{cite book|title=Veronica Ganz|date=1968|publisher=Dell|isbn=9780440792055|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0440792053}}
- {{cite book|title=The Bears' House|date=1971|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780385033633|url=https://archive.org/details/bearshouse00sach}}
- {{cite book|title=A Pocket Full of Seeds|date=1973|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780385060912|url=https://archive.org/details/pocketfullofsee000sach}}
- Matt's Mitt. Doubleday. 1975. {{ISBN|0385002661}}.
- Fleet-Footed Florence (sequel to Matt's Mitt). Doubleday. 1981. {{ISBN|0385127456}}.
- {{cite book|title=The Fat Girl|date=1984|publisher=E.P. Dutton|isbn=9780525440765|url=https://archive.org/details/fatgirl00sach}}
- {{cite book|title=Lost in America|date=2005|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9781596430402|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lostinamerica0000sach}}
- {{cite book|title=First Impressions|date=2006|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9781596431171|url=https://archive.org/details/firstimpressions00sach_0}}
Awards and recognition
- 1968 – Veronica Ganz – American Library Association Notable Book
- 1972 – The Bears' House – National Book Award finalist
- 1973 – A Pocket Full of Seeds – New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year
- 1991 – The Big Book for Peace (co-editor) – Jane Addams Children's Book Award{{cite web|title=Book Award Winners|url=http://www.janeaddamspeace.org/jacba/docs/JACBAawards.pdf|website=Jane Addams Peace Association|accessdate=December 31, 2016}}{{cite book|author1=Susan C. Griffith|title=The Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Honoring Children's Literature for Peace and Social Justice since 1953|date=September 5, 2013|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780810892033|page=100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z3DIt3sNsSAC&q=sachs&pg=PA100|accessdate=December 31, 2016}}
- American Jewish Library Award{{cite book|author1=Edward Zerin|title=Jewish San Francisco|date=October 9, 2006|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781439618172|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ti_5vncZaYQC&q=Marilyn-Sachs&pg=PT151|accessdate=December 31, 2016}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/p17208coll5/id/65638/rec/125 Interview with Marilyn Sachs] at the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota, All About Kids! TV Series #124 (1992)
{{Authority control}}
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Category:American children's writers
Category:Hunter College alumni
Category:Columbia University School of Library Service alumni
Category:Novelists from New York (state)
Category:Writers from San Francisco
Category:Jewish American novelists
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women children's writers
Category:20th-century American women writers