RICHARD MICHELSON is a prize-winning poet
and children’s book author. His first book, Tap Dancing
for the Relatives, was praised by Nobel Laureate Elie Weisel
as “deeply moving.” His latest collection, Battles
& Lullabies, published by the University of Illinois Press, was selected as one of the 12 best poetry books of 2006 by ForeWord Magazine. Michelson’s
poetry has appeared in many anthologies, including The Norton
Introduction to Poetry. Clemson University named Michelson as the Richard J. Calhoun Distinguished Reader in American Literature for 2008,
and he was the featured poet for the 20th Anniversary edition of Image Journal.
Michelson's numerous books for children have received a New Yorker Best Book Award, a Children’s Book Committee Book of the Year and a Jewish Book Council Book of the Month. The Detroit Jewish News cited Too Young for Yiddish, as “one of the best Jewish children’s books published in recent memory, and one of the top 25 ever published.” Across the Alley was one of two finalists for the 2006 National Jewish Book Award, and Tuttle's Red Barn was a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2007.
In addition to being an author, Mr. Michelson is a popular guest speaker. Within the past year he has lectured, and read from his works in India, Eastern Europe, and throughout the United States. He represented the United States at the Bratislava Biennial of Children’s Books in 2005. Michelson has written for the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Nextbook and other publications. He is the Curator of Exhibitions at The National Yiddish Book Center and owns R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts. Read the essay in JBooks on Obama, King and Heschel. Read the interview in The Western Massachusetts Jewish Ledger. Read the essay in Nextbook on Writing Across Racial Lines. Read From Cold Feet to Happy Feet in Publisher's Weekly Read High Style on Main Street in The Valley Advocate |
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In January 2009, "