Alexandra Grilikhes
American writer
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Alexandra Barbara Grilikhes (December 1, 1932 – February 8, 2003) was an American writer, librarian, critic, novelist, and poet. based in Philadelphia.[1]
Alexandra Grilikhes | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1, 1932 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 2003 (age 70) Roxborough, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Other name | Sandra Grilikhes |
| Occupations | Writer, poet, novelist |
| Relatives | Laraine Day (sister-in-law) |
Early life and education
Grilikhes was born in New York City, the daughter of Anatol Israel Grilikhes and Blanche Krainin Grilikhes. Her parents were both born in Russia; her father was an engraver and artist and her mother was a bookkeeper, violinist and poet.[2][3] She graduated from Queens College, then earned a master's degree in library science at Columbia University.[4]
Career
Grilikhes taught poetry at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and was a librarian at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.[4][5] In the 1970s and 1980s, she produced the International Festival of Films by Women,[6][7] hosted public radio programs,[4] and was poetry editor for the weekly Philadelphia City Paper.[8] She spoke at the American Dance Guild conference in 1989.[9] She was editor and publisher of the literary magazine American Writing, from 1990 to 2002.[10] Her 2001 novel Yin Fire was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. She also wrote spoken-word scores for dance performances, and gave readings with the Improvisational Poetry Group.[1]
Publications
Grilikhes's poetry often focused on women artists, mythologies, and female deities.[1][11][12] Her work was published in College Art Journal,[13] The American Scholar,[14][15] Feminist Studies,[16] Grand Street,[17] The Women's Review of Books,[18] and Bridges,[19] and collected in several books and anthologies.[1][20]
- "Three poems: Melancholia, Bronze Aquamanile, The Twelvetones of Plainchant" (1960, poems)[13]
- "Antonioni" (1971, poem)[14]
- "On March 23, John Ashbery (Reading His Poems)" (1972, poem)[15]
- Isabel Rawsthorne Standing in a Street in Soho, and Other Poems (1972)[21]
- Body/With Words: Poems for Dance (1976)[8]
- Sea Agon (1976)[8]
- City Poems (1977)[8]
- "Watching the Dance" (1978, poem)[16]
- On Women Artists: Poems, 1975-1980 (1981)[1][22]
- "Key" and "The Answers" (1982, poems)[17]
- "Something to Say" (1985, poem)[18]
- The Blue Scar and other poems (1988)[21]
- "Traveling", "Story", and "Close the Door" (1993, poems)[19]
- Shaman Body (1996, book of poetry)[23][24]
- "Mangled" (1998, poem)[25]
- "Inanna in Winter" and "Roy's Mother" (1999, poems)[20]
- Yin Fire (2001, novel)[26][27]
Personal life
Grilikhes died in 2003, at age 70, from breast cancer, in Roxborough, Pennsylvania.[4] She was survived by Elizabeth Weiss, her partner of twenty years.[5][28] Her brother Michel Grilikhes was a noted television and event producer, married to actress Laraine Day.[3][29]