Feline Warrior

Oh, the cry that escaped my mouth when I read that headline, just moments ago. I love Grace Paley. Anytime I get to write a list of favorite books, Paley’s “The Little Disturbances of Man” is at the top of the list. A book of short stories, it came into my mitts just when I needed it.

My mother and I saw Grace Paley read from another book (I’m embarrassed to say I forget which, now) at the Folger Shakespeare in Washington, DC. She was alive - brilliant, humble, articulate, clever, human. And a writer. Everything I wanted to be. Grace Paley is someone I have admired.

So I’ll give you a few snips below, plus a link to a story on Democracy Now.

A full snip (and therefore not truly a snip, but what can you do?):

“The acclaimed American poet, short story writer, and anti-war activist Grace Paley has died. She was 84 years old and died Wednesday in her home in Vermont.

“A native of the Bronx, Grace Paley was the former state poet laureate in both New York and Vermont. She also received numerous prizes for her work including the Lannan Literary Award, a National Book Award, and a Senior Fellowship recognizing her lifetime contribution to literature from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“Since the 1960s Paley was very active in the anti-war, feminist, and anti-nuclear movements. She helped found the Greenwich Village Peace Center in 1961. Eight years later she went on a peace mission to Hanoi. In 1974 she attended the World Peace Conference in Moscow.

“In 1980, she helped organize the Women’s Pentagon Action. And in 1985 Paley visited Nicaragua and El Salvador, after having campaigned against the U.S. government’s policies toward these countries. She was also one of “The White House Eleven,” who were arrested in 1978 for unfurling an anti-nuclear banner on the White House lawn.

“Just over four years ago, at the start of the war on Iraq, we interviewed Grace Paley. In February, 2003, the First Lady had cancelled a White House poetry symposium honoring Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Laura Bush had feared the invited poets might invoke poems critical of invading Iraq.”

Here’s a little bit more on her: http://www.reaaward.org/html/grace_paley.html

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Tags: GracePaley, “short story, writer