Biography Essay

Tillie Olsen is a feminist and working-class author who began writing in the 1930s. Robert Coles commented in The Nation, "Everything Tillie Olsen has written has become almost immediately a classic." Though she is most famous for her shortstory collection Tell Me a Riddle (1961), Olsen is also recognized as a teacher and an activist. She has taught or been writer in residence at several universities, including Amherst College, Stanford University, M.I.T., and Kenyon College. She has been the recipient of several honorary degrees as well as many other awards. On 1 March 1998 she was honored at Cabrillo College, Aptos, California, for her short stories and essays depicting the lives of working-class people with "respect, profound understanding and deep love."

In addition to her attention to working-class people, Olsen explores the literary tragedy of silenced writers, creative spirits killed by such potent poisons as class and...