Hirsch, Kathleen 1953-

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HIRSCH, Kathleen 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born 1953; married; children: William. Education: M.A. (fiction writing).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Jamaica Plain, MA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, North Point Press, 19 Union Sq. W., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Urban-affairs reporter.

WRITINGS:

Songs from the Alley, Tichnor & Fields (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor, with Katrina Kenison) Mothers: Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood, North Point Press (New York, NY), 1996.

A Home in the Heart of a City, North Point Press (New York, NY), 1998.

A Sabbath Life: A Woman's Search for Wholeness, North Point Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Journalist Kathleen Hirsch's books chart her examinations of the social, economic, and religious trends behind issues like homelessness and neighborhood crime. Her approach is not to gather broad statistics, but rather to focus on one or two people or a single neighborhood. Her first such effort, Songs from the Alley, profiled two homeless women, Amanda and Wendy, living in Boston. Hirsch worked in a homeless shelter for two years and followed the women to shelters and low-level jobs. In the Los Angeles Times Book Review Alex Raksin praised Songs from the Alley for how its social observations "defy both liberal and conservative stereotypes," and stated that Hirsch's "most impressive accomplishment lies in reducing that measure of distance we feel when passing the homeless in the street." V. R. Peterson of People declared the book, "Compassionate and memorable, … a powerful study of the agencies, individuals and emotions involved in the lives of the indigent."

In 1990 Hirsch moved from Boston, where she'd lived for a decade, into the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, an area described by Ruth Bayard Smith in the New York Times Book Review as a "racially and socioeconomically diverse … working-class enclave." A Home in the Heart of the City is Hirsch's attempt to capture the flavor, charm, and challenges of living in a neighborhood rich with real-life characters and stories, but facing tough social and economic difficulties. Phoebe-Lou Adams of the Atlantic Monthly proclaimed the story of citizens fighting to "reverse the decline" of their neighborhood "an encouraging example of what cooperation and ingenuity can do to arrest urban decay." In Booklist GraceAnne A. DeCandido stated that "Hirsch's tribute … will leave readers longing to build a similar place for themselves, whereever they are."

After reporting on others, Hirsch turned her observations on herself in 2001's A Sabbath Life. The book examines her mid-life spiritual crisis and eventual reawakening as she struggles with motherhood, career, and the death of loved ones. A Publishers Weekly critic wrote, "This often astute and beautiful blend of feminism and postfeminism holds some insights."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlantic Monthly, October 1, 1998, Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of A Home in the Heart of a City, p. 116.

Booklist, July, 1998, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of A Home in the Heart of a City, p. 1838; April 1, 2001, Donna Seaman, review of A Sabbath Life, p. 1142.

Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 1996, Marilyn Gardner, "'Mothers' Literature' Offers New Voices on Child-Rearing," interview, p. 13; October 14, 1998, Marilyn Gardner, "Neighborhood Activist Finds a Sense of Place," interview, p. B3.

Library Journal, July, 1998, Ellen Gilbert, review of A Home in the Heart of a City, p. 116; March 15, 2001, Olga B. Wise, review of A Sabbath Life, p. 88.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 16, 1989, Alex Raksin, review of Songs from the Alley, p. 6.

New York Times Book Review, David C. Anderson, review of Songs from the Alley, p. 25; March 7, 1999, Ruth Bayard Smith, review of A Home in the Heart of a City, p. 19.

People, July 10, 1989, V. R. Peterson, review of Songs from the Alley, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, April 15, 1996, review of Mothers, p. 48; July 6, 1998, review of A Home in the Heart of a City, p. 39; March 19, 2001, review of A Sabbath Life, p. 89.

Women's Review of Books, November, 1989, Ann Withorn, "No Place to Go?," review of Songs from the Alley, pp. 13-4.