Eve Merriam facts for kids

Eve Merriam (July 19, 1916 – April 11, 1992) was an American poet and writer.

Writing career

Merriam's first book was the 1946 Family Circle, which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize.

Her book, The Inner City Mother Goose, was described as one of the most banned books of the time. It inspired a 1971 Broadway musical called Inner City, later revived in 1982 under the title Street Dreams. In 1956 she published Emma Lazarus: Woman with a Torch. In 1981 she won the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. One of her books for children is Halloween ABC. She published over 30 books, and taught at both City College and New York University.

Her play Out of Our Father's House, based on her book Growing Up Female in America, was televised in the Great Performances series in 1978.

Personal life

Born as Eve Moskovitz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Russian immigrants Max Moscovitz and Jennie Siegel. After graduating with an A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937, Merriam moved to New York to pursue graduate studies at Columbia University. She was married for a time to writer Leonard C. Lewin. She later married screenwriter Waldo Salt and was actress Jennifer Salt's stepmother.

Death

Merriam died on April 11, 1992 in Manhattan from liver cancer.

Core biographical material

• Heffer, Helen Ruth Julian. A Checklist of Works by and about Eve Merriam. Master's thesis, University of Maryland, 1980. Includes 84-page biographical essay.
• Copeland, J. S., Speaking of Poets: Interviews with Poets Who Write for Children and Young Adults (1993).
• “Eve Merriam.” In Anne Commire, ed., Something About the Author, vol. 40. Detrolt: Gale Research Co., 1985.

In other works

• Randy Shilts. The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life & Times of Harvey Milk (New York: St. Martins, 1982).
• Kate Weigand. Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).

Archival materials