Jane Schulman
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Jane Schulman is a poet and fiction writer. She published her first book of poetry, Where Blue Is Blue, with Main Street Rag in 2020. In the book, she explores themes of love, death, disability, and wonder in the everyday. Jane’s poems have appeared in Mezzo Cammin, Sixfold, The Lake and many others. She was a finalist for the Morton Marr Prize at Southwest Review. Jane works as a speech pathologist with children with autism and learning challenges.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
I’m a Jewish woman—a Jewish woman who struggled to find out what it means to be a Jew. I grew up in a secular Jewish home in Brooklyn and then New Jersey—my father in fact was an “evangelical atheist” and anti-Zionist. Neither of my American-born parents, children of American-born parents, were taught anything about Jewish history, practice, theology, or philosophy. They had nothing to teach me so, even as a 10-year-old child, I understood I had to figure out my Jewish identity for myself.
Through ascents, falls, and detours, through marriage to a man raised as a proud Jew; through rearing four sons with strong Jewish values and identities; through learning to read enough Hebrew as an adult to participate in synagogue services; and now, Shabbat and kashrut-observant, my writing is infused with my Jewish essence. Poems and stories include shivas, Jewish burials, candle lighting, and retellings of the Cain & Abel story. The struggle and search continues to tell my stories, my Jewish stories.
Published Works
Where Blue Is Blue (Main Street Rag, 2020)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Education
Barnard College, Columbia University, B.A.
Hunter College, City University of New York, M.S. in Communication Disorders