Katha pollitt biography channel

American poet, essayist and judge (born 1949)

Katha Pollitt (born Oct 14, 1949) is an Earth poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of a handful of essay collections and two books of poetry. Her writing focuses on political and social issues from a left-leaning perspective, counting abortion, racism, welfare reform, campaign, and poverty.

Early life abide education

Pollitt was born in Borough Heights, New York. Her daddy was a lawyer and frequent mother was an agent affected in real estate.^[1] Her parents encouraged Pollitt to pursue spurn interest in poetry. Her pop was Protestant and her be quiet was Jewish.^[2] Pollitt wrote mostly of her family in Learning to Drive, which is devoted to her parents.

Pollitt appropriate a B.A. in philosophy use Radcliffe College in 1972 become calm an M.F.A. in writing punishment Columbia University in 1975.^[3] Away her time at Harvard, she was involved with Students plan a Democratic Society and took part, along with Jared State, in the student strike deed shut down of 1969.^[4]

Professional life

Pollitt is best known for other bimonthly column "Subject to Debate" in The Nation magazine.

Crack up writing has also featured budget publications such as Ms., The New York Times, and interpretation London Review of Books. An extra poetry has been republished fasten many anthologies and magazines, counting The New Yorker and character 2006 Oxford Book of English Poetry.

She has appeared lower NPR's Fresh Air and All Things Considered, Charlie Rose, Greatness McLaughlin Group, CNN, Dateline NBC and the BBC.^[5]

Much of Pollitt's writing is in defense show consideration for contemporary feminism and other forms of identity politics and tackles perceived misimpressions by critics hold up across the political spectrum; upset frequent topics include abortion, decency media, U.S.

foreign policy, rank politics of poverty (especially good fortune reform), and human rights movements around the world.

Pollitt coined the phrase "The Smurfette Principle" in 1991,^[6] in which she typifies the cartoon character Smurfette as the "lone female" on the run a group of males who is often a stereotypic figure.^[7]

In 2003, she was one sight the signers of the Subject Manifesto.^[8] In 2020, she was one of the signers be frightened of the Harper's Letter, which oral support for protests for community justice while criticizing the green number of disproportionately severe punishments for perceived slights or offenses.

On May 20, 2020, Pollitt said she would vote pray Joe Biden in the statesmanlike election, even "if he cooked babies and ate them".^[9][10]

Publications

Essay collections

In 1994, Pollitt published Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Vintage), a collection of cardinal essays that first appeared change for the better The Nation and other memoirs.

The book's title was first-class reference to a line weight Mary Wollstonecraft's 1794 treatise, A Vindication of the Rights carefulness Woman – "I wish terminate see women neither heroines shadowy brutes; but reasonable creatures."^[11]

Most unravel her Nation essays from 1994 to 2001 were collected overload Subject to Debate: Sense existing Dissents on Women, Politics weather Culture, published by the Up to date Library in 2001.^[12]

On June 13, 2006, Random House published bitterness book Virginity or Death!: Spell Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time, a spanking collection of her Nation columns.^[13]

In 2007, Pollitt published Learning make haste Drive: And Other Life Stories (Random House), a collection stand for personal essays.

Learning to Drive is a departure from inclusion political commentary, covering a peculiar of topics from webstalking trig cheating boyfriend to what she learned about her parents scorn the Freedom of Information Act.^[14][15]

Learning to Drive was adapted lump screenwriter Sarah Kernochan and supervisor Isabel Coixet into the 2014 film Learning to Drive, which stars Patricia Clarkson.^[16]

Poetry

The first picture perfect Pollitt published was a amassment of poetry called Antarctic Traveler (Knopf, 1982), which won character National Book Critics Circle Trophy haul (1983).^[17]

Her second volume of plan, The Mind-Body Problem, was publicised in 2009 and excerpted warrant Granta.^[18]

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights

Politt has said that Pro: Reclaiming Cut-off point Rights (2014), was intended on account of a response to the "feeling among many pro-choice people walk we need to be improved assertive, less defensive".^[19] While justness topic is always in controversy, Pollitt posits that it necessarily to be discussed in ingenious way that recognizes abortion by reason of an integral component of women's reproductive lives.

Her argument keep to built upon the notion renounce abortion is a "positive community good" and "an essential choice for women".^[20] Pollitt says discontinuation needs to be looked dry mop as "back into the lives and bodies of women, on the other hand also in the lives scholarship men, and families, and honourableness children those women already possess or will have".^[21] She argues that the issue brings in the matter of how we discuss menstrual cycles with young girls and glory number of resources we keep available for families, both celibate parent and two-parent.

Further dignity decision should not be looked at as the action surrounding a woman thinking independently for abortion requires the "cooperation duplicate many people beyond the lassie herself".^[22] She said in Oct 2014 that Jewish tradition "does not have the concept publicize the personhood of the craniate (much less the embryo diversity fertilized egg).

In Jewish document, you become a person while in the manner tha you draw your first breath."^[19]

A group of feminist scholars allow activists analyzed Pro: Reclaiming Effect Rights for "Short Takes: Provocations on Public Feminism," an drive of the feminist journal Signs: Journal of Women in Flamboyance and Society.^[23] The commentaries incorporate a response by Pollitt.

Personal life

On June 6, 1987, she married Randy Cohen, author lacking the New York Times Magazine column "The Ethicist."^[24] They posterior divorced. They have a lassie. On April 29, 2006, Pollitt married the political theorist Steven Lukes.^[25] They live in Borough.

Awards, honors, grants

• The Frost Illomened poet in residence (1977)*
• National Exact Critics Circle Award in Verse rhyme or reason l (for Antarctic Traveler, 1983)
• National Ability for the Arts (grant, 1984)
• Academy of American Poets ("Peter Side-splitting.

  B. Lavan Younger Poets Award," 1984)

• Fulbright Scholarship (1985)
• Arvon Foundation Adoration (1986)
• New York Foundation for rank Arts (1987)
• John Simon Guggenheim Monument Foundation (Fellowship, 1987)
• National Magazine Reward (for "Essays and Criticism," 1992)
• Whiting Award (1992)
• Planned Parenthood Federation racket America ("Maggie Award," 1993)
• Freedom outlander Religion Foundation ("Freethought Heroine Award," 1995)
• National Women's Political Caucus ("Exceptional Merit Media Award," 2001)
• National Serial Award (for "Best Columns increase in intensity Commentary," 2003)
• American Book Award ("Lifetime Achievement Award," 2010)
• The Nation Organization (Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow)
• Freedom Raid Religion Foundation (Honorary Board remind you of distinguished achievers 2010)^[26]
• American Humanist Meet people ("Humanist Heroine," 2013)^[27]

Bibliography

• Antarctic Traveller: Poems (Knopf, 1982) (ISBN 0394748956)
• Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Vintage, 1995) (ISBN 0679762787)
• Subject to Debate: Perception and Dissents on Women, Political science, and Culture (Modern Library Paperbacks, 2001) (ISBN 0679783431)
• Virginity or Death!: Discipline Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time (Random Household, 2006) (ISBN 081297638X)
• Learning to Drive: Swallow Other Life Stories (Random Semi-detached, 2007) (ISBN 1400063329)
• The Mind-Body Problem: Poems (Random House, 2009) (ISBN 1400063337)
• Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights (Picador, 2014) (ISBN 9780312620547)

References

External links