Ann Judith Birstein (May 27, 1927 – May 24, 2017) was an American
Fulbright Scholar, novelist, memoirist, essayist, film critic, blogger,[1] and professor.[2]
Biography
She was born in the
Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of
New York City and was the daughter of the notable Rabbi Bernard Birstein of the Actor's Temple.[3] She attended
Queens College[3] and published her first novel, Star of Glass, in 1950 at the age of twenty three. She was married to and later divorced the literary critic
Alfred Kazin, with whom she had a daughter, Cathrael Kazin. Birstein was also stepmother to professor and author
Michael Kazin. She was a former professor of
Barnard College.[2]
She died at home in New York on May 24, 2017, following a long illness.[4]
Novels
Star of Glass (1950)
The Troublemaker
The Sweet Birds of Gorham
Summer Situations
Dickie's List
American Children
The Rabbi on Forty-seventh Street (biography of her father, Rabbi Bernard Birstein)