Linda Laderman
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Growing up in Toledo, Ohio, Linda fell in love with the local branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library. Some of her best childhood memories are of the times she rode her pink Schwinn to the library, where she could spend the day choosing her next book from shelves of fiction and poetry. She never doubted that she would be a writer when she studied journalism as an undergraduate. Throughout her career, she wrote for media outlets and academic institutions. Later, she returned to school and earned a masters in liberal studies and a law degree. She began writing poetry in her 60’s as an attempt to better understand the world around her. Now in her 70’s, and living near Detroit, she is still attempting to do that.
Linda is the 2023 recipient of The Jewish Woman’s Prize from Harbor Review. Her micro-chapbook, “What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know” will be published online at Harbor Review in September, 2023. Her poetry is forthcoming in Minyan Magazine and Mom Egg Review, and has appeared in The Jewish Literary Journal, SWWIM, ONE ART, 3rd Wednesday, The Jewish Writing Project, The Write Launch, Thimble Literary Magazine, and Rust & Moth, among others. For nearly a decade, she volunteered as a docent at the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
My Jewishness/Judaism influences everything I do, and write, intentionally and unintentionally. My poems reflect my experiences as a Jewish writer, but also as a mother, grandmother, wife, professional. I have experienced anti-semitism throughout my 74 years, and those experiences have had a major impact on my writing. How could it not? It is something you never forget when you are told over and over, as a child, that you are not allowed here or there, or you are less than a neighbor who is non-Jewish. My experiences as a docent, for nearly a decade, at the Holocaust Center near Detroit, also have made their way into my poetry. That is not to say, that my writing is solely focused on Judaism, but only to acknowledge it is always with me, part of me. My husband came to the U.S. from Israel. His sister and brother-in-law, as were his parents, survived the Shoah. They lost 35 family members. This too colors my poetry/writing.
Published Works
What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know (chapbook; Harbor Review, 2023)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Current Title
Education
The University of Toledo, College of Law, 1998
The University of Toledo, Masters of Liberal Studies
Ohio University, Bachelor’s degree in Journalism