Anita Diamant
| Anita Diamant | |
|---|---|
 Anita Diamant in 2010 | |
| Born |
Anita Diamant 27 June 1951 |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Binghamton University |
| Period | 21st century |
| Website | |
|
www | |
Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books. She has published five novels, the most recent of which is "The Boston Girl," a New York Times bestseller, and is best known for her 1997 novel, The Red Tent, a New York Times best seller. She has also written six guides to contemporary Jewish practice: The New Jewish Wedding, "The New Jewish Baby Book," Living a Jewish Life, "Choosing a Jewish Life," "How to Raise a Jewish Child," and "Saying Kaddish." A collection of her personal essays, "Pitching My Tent," is also in print.
Early life and education
Diamant spent her early childhood in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to Denver, Colorado, when she was 12 years old. She attended the University of Colorado Boulder and transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature in 1973. She then went on to receive a master's degree in English from Binghamton University in 1975.
Career
Diamant started her writing career in 1975 as a freelance journalist. Her articles have been published in the Boston Globe magazine, Parenting magazine, New England Monthly, Yankee, Self, Parents, McCalls, and Ms.
She branched out into books with the release of The New Jewish Wedding, published in 1985, and has since published five other books about contemporary Jewish practice. Her debut as a fiction writer came in 1997 with The Red Tent, followed by the novels, Good Harbor and The Last Days of Dogtown, an account of life in a dying Cape Ann, Massachusetts village, Dogtown, in the early 19th century. Day After Night followed, a novel about four women who survived the Holocaust, and find themselves detained in a British displaced persons camp. Her latest novel is "The Boston Girl," published in 2014, a coming-of-age story about an immigrant girl in the early 20th century. In a discussion at the University of Minnesota, Diamant discussed the role of women and religion in her work.[1]
Diamant is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center, a community-based ritual bath in Newton, Massachusetts.
She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, is married, and has one daughter.
Bibliography
Fiction
- The Boston Girl (2014)
- Day After Night (2009)
- The Last Days of Dogtown (2005)
- Good Harbor (2001)
- The Red Tent (1997)
Non-fiction
- The New Jewish Wedding (1985, revised 2001)
- Living a Jewish Life (1991, revised 2007)
- Pitching My Tent (1995, 2005)
- Choosing a Jewish Life (1998)
- Saying Kaddish: How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead, and Mourn as a Jew (1998)
- How to Raise a Jewish Chlld (2000)
- The New Jewish Baby Book (1988, revised 2005)
Notes
Further reading
- Jones, Daniel; Jorgenson, John D., eds. (2004). "Diamant, Anita 1951–". Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series. 126. Gale Research. pp. 87–90. ISBN 0-7876-6718-8.
- "Holding Up Half the Sky: Feminist Judaism" by Anita Diamant on Patheos
- Vladimir Tumanov. “Yahweh vs. the Teraphim: Jacob’s Pagan Wives in Thomas Mann’s Joseph and his Brothers and in Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent.” Nebula 4 (2): 139-151, 2007.