STUX, Erica 1929-

PERSONAL: Born November 29, 1929; daughter of Max (a doctor) and Trudy (a homemaker and seamstress: maiden name, Moses) Houser; married Paul Stux, November 19, 1955 (died, July 5, 1984); married William Shore, February 6, 2000; children: (first marriage) Lydia, Ted, Arnold. Education: University of Cincinnati, B.S., 1949, M.S., 1950. Hobbies and other interests: Conservation, bird-watching, playing bridge, playing accordion, composing songs.

ADDRESSES: Home—10055 Larwin Ave., No. 5, Chatsworth, CA 91311.

CAREER: Poet, novelist, and author. Worked as a chemist in Cincinnati, OH, 1950-56; P.P.G. Industries, Akron, OH, technical writer, 1978-84; University of Akron, Akron, OH, instructor in technical writing, 1988-92. Active in philanthropic and arts-supporting groups in Akron, and, since 1999, in the San Fernando Valley, CA.

MEMBER: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, California Writer' Club, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, MENSA, Chatsworth Women's Club.

AWARDS, HONORS: Akron Area Manuscript Club award.

WRITINGS:

Landlady (novel), Winston-Derek (Nashville, TN), 1991.

Strobe Lights (poetry chapbook), Plowman (Whitby, Ontario, Canada), 1995.

Eight Who Made a Difference: Pioneer Women in the Arts, Avisson Press (Greensboro, NC), 1999.

Writing for Freedom: A Story about Lydia Maria Child, illustrated by Mary O'Keefe Young, Carolrhoda (Minneapolis, MN), 2001.

Enrico Fermi: Trailblazer in Nuclear Physics, Enslow (Berkeley Heights, NY), 2004.

Contributor of poems and articles to Grit, Columbus Dispatch, Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday Evening Post, Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, Canto, Maryland Review of Poetry, Lutheran Digest, Scroll, Haiku, Outdoor, Summit, Chicago Daily News, and Gentle Survivalist. Contributor of children's poems and stories to periodicals, including Climb, Explore, Wee Wisdom, Hopscotch, Adventures in Storytelling, Real Kids, Story Friends, Words of Cheer, Purring in a Pocket, Ohio Woodlands, and Young Crusader and to publications used by the Southern Baptist Sunday School.

Composer/lyricist of popular country songs, including "Too Scared," "How Good You Had It," and "One Good Friend."

musical plays

Rainbow Days, produced in Akron, OH, 1988. Let It Out, produced in Akron, OH, 1996.

Rain, produced in Akron, OH, 1996.

From Shepherd to King, produced in Akron, OH, 1997.

SIDELIGHTS: Among the many works Erica Stux has authored during her writing life have been a number of poems and stories for children, as well as several book-length biographies. Her interest in the arts as well as her feminist beliefs have inspired several of these books, among them Eight Who Made a Difference: Pioneer Women in the Arts and Writing for Freedom: A Story about Lydia Maria Child, the latter Stux's 2000 biography of the courageous nineteenth-century American abolitionist.

Stux's 1999 work Eight Who Made a Difference includes short biographies on eight women who excelled in their chosen field and gained fame during the twentieth century because of their talents rather than their gender. The accomplishments of Native-American ballet dancer Maria Tallchief, vocalists Marian Anderson and Beverly Sills, American photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, artists Mary Cassatt and Louise Nevelson, architect Julia Morgan, and French pianist Nadia Boulanger are each presented by Stux, often incorporating quotations from the subject herself. Praising Stux for setting her subjects against the cultural and social backdrop of their day, Booklist contributor Anne O'Malley also commended the author for penning "interesting portraits that stress [each of the women's] . . . challenges and accomplishments."

Stux told CA: "I began writing when I had children of my own, first poems and prose pieces for children, then light verse for adults, and finally, longer works. I write about subjects that interest me and would, I hope, interest others.

"I especially like to write for children about animals and the environment, but my dozen or so manuscripts on these topics are still searching for a publisher. I still write poetry for children, both factual and whimsical, and an occasional humorous verse for adults."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, February 15, 1999, Anne O'Malley, review of Eight Who Made a Difference: Pioneer Women in the Arts, p. 1959.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1998, review of Eight Who Made a Difference, p. 1740.

School Library Journal, May, 1999, Marilyn Heath, review of Eight Who Made a Difference, pp. 143-144; January, 2001, Jean Gaffney, review of Writing for Freedom: A Story about Lydia Maria Child, p. 116.