Liz Rosenberg (born Lizbeth Meg Rosenberg, February 3, 1958) is an American poet, novelist, children's book author, and book reviewer. She is currently a professor of English at Binghamton University, and in previous years has taught at Colgate University, Sarah Lawrence College, Hamilton College, Bennington College, and Hollins College. Her children's book reviews appear monthly in The Boston Globe.
Rosenberg was born on Long Island to parents Ross and Lucille Rosenberg. She grew up in Syosset, New York with her older sister, Ellen. It was her sister Ellen who taught her to read when Liz was only two. She and her father would illustrate and write books for their youngest. Rosenberg's interest in poetry and literature started at an early age and her first poem came at eight. She wrote her first "novel" at age nine, in the fourth grade, but did not publish a novel till Heart and Soul, a Young Adult novel it took her twenty years to complete.
Her father owned a tool manufacturing company in Smithtown Long Island, which he ran with several cousins.ROSCO Tools was sold to Vermont American in the l980s. Her mother worked briefly in publishing, and then stayed home to care for her two children. Her maternal aunt, Madlyn Cates, was a well-established actress who appeared on Broadway, in tv shows and films, including the famous "concierge" bit in Mel Brooks' original film The Producers. Madlyn's middle daughter, Katherine Kates, has continued the acting tradition, and has been featured in numerous tv shows, commercials and films, including one turn as the famous "Bobka Lady" on Seinfeld. Rosenberg's paternal uncle, Anton Rosenberg, a painter, was supposedly the model for a central character in Jack Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans and is often thought to be the "angel-headed hipster" about whom Allen Ginsberg wrote in his poem "Howl."
Education
Rosenberg graduated early from Syosset High School, where she won an NCTE Writing Award in her senior year. She met her second husband, David Bosnick, in her junior year in high school. Her first serious high school boyfriend was author Michael Pollan. They lived together for six months in Martha's Vineyard, then attended Bennington College together. While majoring in creative writing and literature at Bennington her first short story, "Memory," won an Atlantic First Award and was published in The Atlantic Monthly. After writing her senior thesis on Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rosenberg graduated early from Bennington and subsequently earned her Masters in creative writing at the Johns Hopkins University Writing Program. She earned her PhD in Comparative literature at Binghamton University, where she has been teaching since 1979. Accomplished writers she has taught include: Nathan Englander, Sheila Schwartz, Ellen Potter, Angie Cruz, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, Kate Schmitt, Jerry Mirskin, Paul William Burch, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Jeff Ford, Matt Moses, Josephine Schmidt, and Michael Greene. She also teaches during the summer at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Beyond Writing
Rosenberg is a board member of The Chabad House and Beds for Kids - which provides children with a place to sleep. She is also proud to have helped found Binghamton's Indoor Playground. In the past she was in charge of Binghamton University's Local Harvest for the Homeless program.
