Olsen, Tillie 1912-2007

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 14, 1912, in Omaha, NE; died January 1, 2007, in Oakland, CA. Author. Most acclaimed for her sensitive short stories, but also the author of a novel and of nonfiction, Olsen wrote of the struggles of the lower classes and those subjected to prejudice. Born to a working-class family, she was influenced by her parents' political beliefs; her father was state secretary of the Nebraska Socialist Party, and Olsen would later join the Young Communist League. Dropping out of school in the eleventh grade, she earned an income in various nondescript jobs, including as a maid, waitress, factory worker, secretary, and packinghouse worker. During the Great Depression, she was a labor activist and organized workers at her packinghouse job. The unhealthy factory environment struck her down with tuberculosis and pleurisy, but she took advantage of her recovery time to work on the novel Yonnondio: From the Thirties, which was not published until 1974. After marrying in 1934, Olsen was occupied with raising a family of four children with a meager income. This afforded her little time to write, but she managed to produce a short-story collection, Tell Me a Riddle, in 1961. One of the stories in the book, "I Stand Here Ironing," was critically praised and adapted into a 1980 movie. In 1978, she released the essay collection Silences, which dealt with such issues as feminism. Although Olsen's busy life prevented her from being very productive, the writings she did produce were highly regarded and she received numerous awards and honors. Among these are the O. Henry Award in 1961 for the short story "Tell Me a Riddle," the Rea Award in 1994, and the Fred Cody Award in 2001, along with many grants, fellowships, and honorary degrees. A longtime resident of San Francisco, she was honored in 1981 when the city declared a Tillie Olsen Day. Also a busy visiting lecturer and professor in the 1970s and 1980s, Olsen was the editor of Mother to Daughter, Daughter to Mother: A Daybook and Reader (1984) and contributed to over two hundred anthologies.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 114, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Contemporary Novelists, 7th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Reference Guide to American Literature, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

New York Times, January 3, 2007, p. C17.

Times (London, England), January 4, 2007, p. 64.