{{short description|American novelist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = Bel Kaufman speaks about making trouble 2013 (cropped).jpg | image_size = | name = Bel Kaufman | caption = Kaufman speaking at Making Trouble/Making History Jewish Women's Archive luncheon in 2013 | birth_date = {{birth date|1911|5|10|mf=yes}} | birth_place = Berlin, Germany | occupation = Writer, instructor | alma_mater = Hunter College (1934) | education = Columbia University (MA) | known_for = ''Up the Down Staircase'' (novel) | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|7|25|1911|05|10}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York, U.S. |spouse=Sydney Goldstine (1936-1961; divorced), Sidney Gluck (? - 2014; her death) |children = 2 }}
'''Bella Kaufman''' (May 10, 1911 – July 25, 2014) was an American teacher and author, well known for writing the bestselling 1964 novel ''Up the Down Staircase.''
==Early life== Bella's father, Michael Kaufman (Mikhail Y. '''Koyfman''') and her mother, Lala (Lyalya) Kaufman (née Rabinowitz) were both from the Russian Empire and married in 1909.
Bella Kaufman was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1911, where her father was studying medicine. The family subsequently returned to Russia where her father completed his studies.<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/bel-kaufman-aya/ Bel Kaufman biography], bookrags.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.</ref> Her father eventually became a physician, and her mother, the second-oldest daughter of famed Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, later established herself as a writer under the name Lala Kaufman.<ref name="Ellenson-LyalaKaufman">Ellenson, Ruth Andrew (undated). [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kaufman-lyalya ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia''], Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 29, 2022.</ref>
Bel was the older of two children. Her brother Sherwin, born nine years later, was a New York City physician. Bel's native language was Russian, and she was raised in Odesa and Kyiv (in present-day Ukraine). As a child, she published her first poem, "Spring", in an Odesa magazine. Life there was very difficult.
{{blockquote|"Dead bodies were frozen in peculiar positions on the street," she recalled. "People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour."}}
Kaufman emigrated to the United States in 1922 at age 12 with her parents. She and her family lived in Newark, New Jersey, where her father practiced medicine until his death in 1938.<ref>[https://www.jta.org/1964/12/28/archive/lala-kaufman-author-and-daughter-of-sholem-aleichem-dies-in-n-y], jta.org. Retrieved March 29, 2022.</ref> Her mother initially composed in Russian but went on to write sketches and stories in Yiddish that were published regularly for many years in the ''Jewish Daily Forward'' (''Forverts''),<ref name="Bilik-LyalyaKaufman">Bilik, Dorothy (undated). [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kaufman-lyalya "Lyalya Kaufman, 1887-1964"], ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia'' [online version], Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved July 26, 2014.</ref> and she also translated some of Bel's grandfather (Sholem Aleichem)'s works from Yiddish into Russian.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B06E1DE143BE53ABC4D51DFB467838F679EDE "Lala Kaufman, 77, author, is dead"] (December 25, 1964), ''New York Times''.</ref>
Kaufman first began learning English after her arrival in the United States but it was hard for her. Upon entering public school at age 12, she was placed in classes with first graders hindered because of language. She attended Hunter College in New York, graduating magna cum laude in 1934 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Collection: Bel Kaufman papers {{!}} Smith College Finding Aids|url=https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/881|access-date=2020-08-10|website=findingaids.smith.edu}}</ref> She credits a teacher who helped her to learn the English language in her elementary years and it was through her that she came to love English literature.<ref name="Ellenson">Ellenson, Ruth Andrew (undated). "[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kaufman-bel]." ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia'' [online version], Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved July 31, 2014.</ref> In 1936, Kaufman graduated with a master's degree in literature from Columbia University.<ref name="at 100"/>
==Career== {{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}} [[File:Chetvero.jpg|right|thumb|Gennadiy Prashkevich (left) and Kaufman (second from right)]]
Kaufman began work as a teacher in various New York City high schools, while also working part-time as a writer (including articles for ''Esquire'' magazine) under the name Bel Kaufman, shortened because ''Esquire'' only accepted manuscripts from male authors.
In 1964, she published ''Up the Down Staircase,'' a novel about an idealistic young honors college graduate who becomes an English teacher in a New York City high school and deals with the gritty realities of her colleagues and students. The book was based on Kaufman's own teaching experiences. ''Up the Down Staircase'' was originally a short story—only three and a half pages long — published in ''The Saturday Review'' on November 17, 1962, under the title "From a Teacher's Wastebasket". The book became an enormous success, remaining on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for 64 weeks.<ref name="at 100"/> In 1967, the book was turned into a film of the same name, starring Sandy Dennis. It was also turned into a play, appearing in over 100 Broadway, off-Broadway and road stage productions.
In 1979, Kaufman published a second novel, ''Love, etc.'', which was not a critical success. She later wrote several short stories and continued as a teacher and lecturer in New York City. According to Pearson Education, Kaufman wrote, "I do not ''like'' writing; in truth, I ''hate'' writing, and would rather do anything else. But the joy comes when, almost in spite of myself, I come close to what I want to say. A sentence or an insight leaps from the page."<ref>[http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_master_lit_1/0,,733343-,00.html Pearson Education biography of Bel Kaufman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212204635/http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_master_lit_1/0%2C%2C733343-%2C00.html |date=February 12, 2009 }}</ref>
At 99 years old, Bel Kaufman was hired by her alma mater Hunter College in February 2011 to teach a course on Jewish humor. She turned 100 years old during her first semester of instruction. "I'm too busy to get old", noted Kaufman, who spent her days writing in her book-lined study on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.<ref name=guns>{{cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/prof_shticks_to_her_guns_18F6lFUm9wG983kyjevRgP?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=|work=New York Post|first=Isabel|last=Vincent|title=Prof, 99, shticks to her guns|date=February 20, 2011}}</ref>
==Personal life== Kaufman married Sydney Goldstine in 1936 upon her graduation from Columbia University. They had two children: Jonathan (a computer science professor) and Thea (a psychologist).<ref name="at 100"/> The couple divorced in the 1960s. Sydney Goldstine died in 2000. Bel had one granddaughter, Susan Goldstine, a mathematics professor.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
In the 1970s, Bel married Sidney J. Gluck, a photographer, scholar of Chinese studies, and public interest advocate. He was five years her junior. The couple remained married until her death. In 2010, Kaufman celebrated her 99th birthday at the annual memorial to her famous grandfather, the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem.<ref name="at 100"/> She was still writing at age 101, in July 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-gage/bel-kaufman_b_1702252.html|last=Gage|first=Joan|publisher=Huffington Post|title= Bel Kaufman Is 101 and Still Writing |date=July 27, 2012|accessdate=October 19, 2012}}</ref>
== Death == Bel Kaufman died at home in New York City on July 25, 2014, aged 103. She was survived by her husband, Sidney Gluck; a brother, Sherwin Kaufman; her daughter, Thea Goldstine; her son, Jonathan Goldstine; and her granddaughter, Susan Goldstine.<ref>Fox, Margalit (July 25, 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/arts/bel-kaufman-up-the-down-staircase-writer-dies-at-103.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22%7D "Bel Kaufman, Who Told What School Was Really Like, Dies at 103"], ''New York Times''.</ref>
==Awards and honors== * Honorary chairman of the Yiddish Studies faculty at Columbia University<ref>{{cite web|title=Yiddish Studies Faculty|accessdate=February 17, 2006|publisher=Columbia University|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cijs/yidd/yidfac.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212105517/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cijs/yidd/yidfac.html|archivedate=February 12, 2006}}</ref> * Board of directors of the Sholem Aleichem Memorial Foundation * Anti-Defamation League award * United Jewish Appeal award * Member of Hall of Fame, Hunter College<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442092/bio Bel Kaufman IMDb profile]</ref>
==Selected bibliography== *''Up the Down Staircase'' (1964) *''Love, etc.'' (1979)
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="at 100">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 11, 2011|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/nyregion/bel-kaufman-at-100-still-a-teacher-and-a-jokester.html|first=Joseph|last=Berger|title=At 100, Still a Teacher, and Quite a Character}}</ref> }}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|Bel Kaufman}} {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0442092}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140913125133/http://sidneyjgluck.com/ Sidney J. Gluck] (personal site) *[https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/881 Bel Kaufman papers] at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufman, Bel}} Category:1911 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Hunter College alumni Category:Writers from Odesa Category:Jews from Odesa Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Category:Jewish American novelists Category:20th-century American novelists Category:Novelists from New York City Category:20th-century American women novelists Category:Sholem Aleichem Category:American women centenarians Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Germany Category:Jewish centenarians