Queens College opened up the world for me. Thanks to the generous-minded English Department and Dr. Phyliss Bartlett, I was able to sell my first book in my Senior year.

Ann Birstein was born and brought up in New York City and graduated from Queens College in 1948.

Birstein is the author of nine books: seven works of fiction, including American Children, Dickie's List, Summer Situations, and The Last of the True Believers; and two nonfiction works: a biography of her father, The Rabbi on Forty-Seventh Street, and an autobiography, What I Saw at the Fair. Her short stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in the New Yorker, McCall's, the New York Times, Book World, Mademoiselle, and Vogue.

Among Birstein's honors and awards are a Fulbright Fellowship, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She has taught, lectured, and given readings at colleges and universities throughout the country and abroad, including the Iowa Writers Workshop, Columbia University, and Barnard College, where she also founded and directed Writers on Writing.