Becky Birtha was born on October 11,1948 and is an American poet and children's author who lives in the greater Philadelphia area.
26 Facts About Becky Birtha
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Becky Birtha is best known for her poetry and short stories depicting African-American and lesbian relationships, often focusing on topics such as interracial relationships, emotional recovery from a breakup, single parenthood and adoption.
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Becky Birtha's poetry was featured in the acclaimed 1983 anthology of African-American feminist writing Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, edited by Barbara Smith and published by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
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Becky Birtha has won a Lambda Literary award for her poetry.
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Becky Birtha has been awarded grants from the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to further her literary works.
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Rebecca Lucille Birtha was born on October 11,1948, in Hampton, Virginia, to Jessie Dixon Moore Birtha and Herbert Marshall Birtha.
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Becky Birtha is the younger sister of Rachel Roxanne Birtha Eitches, a former international radio broadcaster for the Voice of America.
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Becky Birtha grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after the family moved to the Germantown section of the city in 1952.
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In 1963 the family relocated to the West Mount Airy neighborhood and Becky Birtha attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls.
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Becky Birtha attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Studies in 1973 and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 1984.
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Becky Birtha's first published book of short stories was For Nights Like This One: Stories of Loving Women, an anthology of short stories about lesbian relationships.
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Becky Birtha wrote the foreword for Breaking Silence by Anne B Keating in November 1983.
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Becky Birtha and Keating were members of a local feminist writers' workshop in Philadelphia under the aegis of a local chapter of the Feminist Writers Guild.
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In 1991, Becky Birtha published The Forbidden Poems, an anthology of poetry focusing on lesbian relationships.
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Becky Birtha writes book reviews for The New Women's Times Feminist Review.
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Ed Hermance, owner and manager of the Philadelphia gay and lesbian bookstore Giovanni's Room, has stated that Becky Birtha's stories "have a vivid sense of place as well as an emotional depth rare among storytellers".
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In later years, Becky Birtha transitioned to writing primarily for children.
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Becky Birtha is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
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Becky Birtha lived with her partner Nancy and daughter Tasha in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
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Becky Birtha practiced Balkan folkdancing for over seventeen years and later studied other forms of modern and folk dance.
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Becky Birtha is a member of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
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Becky Birtha is a member of the Religious Society of Friends.
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In 1985, Becky Birtha received an Individual Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
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Becky Birtha later received a Creative Writing Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988.
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Becky Birtha won a Pushcart Prize in 1989 for her story "Johnnieruth".
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Becky Birtha was awarded one of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts grants for $50,000 for the year 1993.