Cynthia Ozick (1928 - ….)Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City on April 17, 1928. She was the second of two children. His parents, Celia (Regelson) and Wiliam Ozick, immigrated to the United States from the northwestern region of Russia. The family came from the Litvak (Lithuanian) Jewish tradition, which was a tradition of skepticism, rationalism, and anti-mysticism. His parents owned a pharmacy in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx. They worked very hard, usually fourteen hours a day. Cynthia sometimes delivered prescriptions. His mother was a generous, prodigal, exuberant and full of laughter woman while his father was a discreet and quiet man. He was also a Jewish scholar and knew Latin and German. When she was five and a half years old, her grandmother took her to “heder,” for Yiddish-Hebrew religious education. The rabbi told Ozick's grandmother to take her home because a girl should not study. But her grandmother brought her back the next day and insisted that she be accepted. Ozick is grateful to her grandmother for this instinct and traces her feminism to that time. She describes the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx as a lovely place but it was “brutally difficult to be Jewish” there. She remembers having rocks thrown at her or being called Crist's killer. At home and at the “heder” she was considered intelligent but at school she felt particularly uncomfortable because she did not want to sing Christmas carols and was humiliated for this. She felt inadequate and says she lived "a worm-like childhood in elementary school". But he was excellent in grammar, spelling, reading and writing. And to escape the monotony of being different she dedicated herself to the world of books. He started reading with his older brother's...half of the paper......d." He turned 80 earlier this year and won not one but two lifetime achievement awards. In April 2008, received the PEN/Malamud Prize for short fiction and the PEN/Nabakov Prize for “enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship.” Canibal Galaxy – novel, 1983 The Stockholm Messiah – novel, 1987 Metaphor and Memory – essays, 1989 The Shawl – short stories, 1989 Hunger and Madness – essays, 1996 The Puttermesser Papers – novel, 1997 Quarrel & Quandry – essays, 2000 Heir to the Glittering World – novel, 2004 The Din in the Head – essays, 2006Dictation – stories, 2008Sources:www.reaaward.orgwww.jewishvirtuallibrary.orgwww.complete-review.comwww.myjewishlearning.comwww.guardian.co.uk