Fainlight, Ruth

(1931- )

   Born in New York City to an English-born father and a Ukrainian mother, she has lived in England since 1946. She was poet in residence at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1985 and 1990, and writing tutor (for libretti) at the Performing Arts Labs, International Opera and Music Theatre Labs in the U.K. in 1997-1999. She has written librettos for stage and radio. Many of her own poems are translated into Portuguese, French and Spanish, and she has translated the work of the Portuguese poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919- ). Fainlight is also the poetry editor of the journal European Judaism. She lives in London and is married to the writer Alan Sillitoe (see entry). She has received three literary awards. Some of her poetry publications: Cages, 1966. To See the Matter Clearly, 1968. Sibyls and Others, 1980. Fifteen to Infinity, 1983. The Knot, 1990. This Time of Year, 1994. Selected Poems, 1995. Sugar-Paper Blue, 1997. Burning Wire, 2002. Some of her poems: "Another Full Moon," "Archive Film Material," "God's Language," "Lilith," "The Future," "The Vampire Housewife."

   Sources: Biography of Ruth Fainlight (http://www.arlindo-correia.com/081004.html). Bread and Roses: An Anthology of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Poetry by Women Writers. Diana Scott, ed. Virago Press, 1982. British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Holocaust Poetry. Hilda Schiff, ed. HarperCollins, 1995. The Carnegie Mellon Anthology of Poetry. Gerald Costanzo and Jim Daniels, eds. Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1993. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Life and Work of Ruth Fainlight (http://www.writersartists. net/rf2.htm). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poetry Anthology, 1912-1977. Daryl Hine and Joseph Parisi, eds. Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Voices Within the Ark: The Modern Jewish Poets. Howard Schwartz and Anthony Rudolf, eds. Avon Books, 1980.