Norma Farber
Norma Farber was a multifaceted American artist known for her contributions to poetry, concert singing, acting, novel-writing, and children's literature. Born in Boston on August 6, 1909, she excelled academically, graduating from Wellesley College and earning a Master's degree from Radcliffe. Farber married Sidney Farber in 1928, and they had four children while living in various countries, including Belgium and Germany, where she performed as a concert soprano. Her literary career began to flourish in the 1950s, with poetry published in prominent magazines like The Saturday Review and The New Yorker. Farber's notable works include her first book, *The Hatch*, and children's literature such as *Did You Know It Was the Narwhale?* She received numerous accolades for her work, including the National Book Award for *As I Was Crossing Boston Common* and the establishment of the Norma Farber First Book Award by the Poetry Society of America. Despite suffering a stroke in 1983, Farber left a lasting legacy in literature, demonstrated by her extensive body of work, which includes over a thousand poems. She passed away on March 21, 1984, with some of her manuscripts preserved at the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota.
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Norma Farber
Writer
- Born: August 6, 1909
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: March 21, 1984
- Place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Biography
Versatile and multitalented, Norma Farber garnered awards and achievements in the areas of poetry, concert singing, acting, novel-writing, and children’s literature. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1909, to G. Augustus Holzman and Augusta Schon Holzman. After attending the Girls Latin School in Boston, she graduated from Wellesley College (where she was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa key) in 1931; she received a M.A. in comparative literature from Radcliffe the following year. In the meantime, she had married Sidney Farber, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, on July 3, 1928; they eventually had two daughters and two sons.
Having studied as a concert soprano, Farber performed and recorded in the United States and elsewhere; she received a Premier Prix award from the Jury Central des Etudes Musicales in Belgium, in 1936. The Farbers lived for a time in Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland while Farber performed and her husband did research in pathology. In the 1950’s, Farber also began writing and publishing poetry in venues such as The Saturday Review and The New Yorker. Her first book, The Hatch, was published along with the works of two other poets in Poets of Today Two (1955); it was followed by works of children’s literature such as Did You Know It Was the Narwhale? (1967) and a play, Mary Chestnut’s Diary (produced in 1961). The poems in The Hatch examined many topics to which Farber would return often, notably children, the natural world, and religious faith. The 1970’s were productive years for Farber: She published many books of poetry and children’s literature. A Desperate Thing, a collection of poems about marriage, was published in 1973 after the death of Farber’s husband. Four more books followed in the 1980’s, including Mercy Short: A Winter Journal, North Boston, 1692-93 (1982).
Throughout her career, Farber won numerous writing awards, including prizes from the Poetry Society of America and the Golden Rose Award from the New England Poetry Club. As I Was Crossing Boston Common (1973) was awarded the National Book Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters as well as the Children’s Book Showcase Award from the Children’s Book Council; in fact, the Poetry Society of America named an annual prize after her, the “Norma Farber First Book Award.” After having published over a thousand poems, Farber suffered a stroke in 1983 and died on March 21, 1984. Some of her manuscripts and papers are collected at the Children’s Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota.