Tillie Olsen

R.I.P.

1912 – 2007

Tillie Olsen holds one of the special places in my heart and life. In the Eighties she and Grace Paley were the featured writers at a reading at The Ethical Culture Society. Before the event she called and asked me if she could read a piece I had written in response to “I Stand Here Ironing,” which one of my professors had insisted I send to her. Needless to say, I gave my permission, and I cried as she read it at the reading in Manhattan. She also invited me to attend the private party afterward at Florence Howe’s home. It was an evening that I will never forget.

I have kept the gracious thank-you note she sent to me, and I have never seen such clear and teeny, tiny, handwriting in my life. That’s right, Tillie Olsen sent me a thank-you note for letting her read a piece I had written.

No. Thank you Tillie for helping me change my life!