Biography
SONIA TAITZ was born in America to two Holocaust survivors from Lithuania, a master watchmaker and a concert pianist whose career was halted by the Nazis.
Her mother tongue is Yiddish, and she learned English from watching television, seeing Doris Day movies, and listening to the happy Irish-American children frolicking in the playground.
At the age of four, she started her education at the Yeshiva Soloveitchik, embarking on an intense and sophisticated religious and cultural education that continued for the next thirteen years. The final six were spent at The Ramaz School, from which she graduated as Hebrew Valedictorian.
She holds a double B.A., summa cum laude (in English and Psychology) from Barnard, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and an M.Phil in 19th century English Literature from Oxford, where she studied romantic poetry with a descendant of William Wordsworth and was awarded the Lord Bullock Prize for Writing. A three-time Finalist at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, her work has been staged at the Oxford Playhouse, the National Theatre in Washington, New York’s Primary Stages, and the Obie Award-winning Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she served as Writer-in-Residence. Most recently, a play based on her memoir, The Watchmaker’s Daughter, aired on NPR.
The Watchmaker’s Daughter (2012) received lavish praise from critic, essayist and memoirist James Wolcott (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker), Mark Whitaker (memoirist, Managing Editor of CNN, former Editor-in-Chief, Newsweek), and New York Times-bestselling novelist/Bostom Globe critic Caroline Leavitt. The book has been recommended by PEOPLE Magazine as “funny and heartwrenching,” featured under Fanfair/”Hot Type” in Vanity Fair, and cited as a “Can’t-Miss Memoir” by Reader’s Digest. It has also been applauded by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and The Library Journal, among many others. The American Library Association (ALA) nominated the book for the Sophie Brody Medal, and The Chicago Tribune featured it in its pages. ForeWord Reviews recently awarded the memoir a Book Of The Year Medal.
Sonia’s other books include Mothering Heights, praised by People and O: The Oprah Magazine; she has discussed its themes (and other topics) on The Today Show, npr, CNN, and other national venues. The book was cited in a PBS documentary on love (narrated by Anna Deveare Smith), as well as in many anthologies.
In the King’s Arms (2011) , a novel, was recommended by The New York Times Sunday Book Review, ForeWord Magazine (which placed Sonia “in the ranks of the best novelists”), The Jewish Book World (magazine of the Jewish Book Council) and more. In the King’s Arms was nominated for the Sami Rohr Prize in Fiction, a $100,000 grant awarded by the Jewish Book Council.
Her second novel is called Down Under, which tells the story of a famous actor’s fall from grace, and the long-lost love he hopes will save him. Though stylistically different from her previous work, its wildly romantic and intercultural themes will be familiar to her readers. The book has been widely praised, by magazines such as Vanity Fair, and authors such as Jillian Medoff and Jesse Kornbluth, who says: “ No one knows more about what she calls ‘emotional kamikazes’.”
Sonia Taitz’s latest novel, Great With Child, is the story of ambitious, driven Abigail Thomas. Up for partnership at a prestigious law firm, she is thrown by an accidental pregnancy that threatens to upend her life. Witty, warm, and wise, this novel confronts the true meanings of love, morality, and duty. Foreword Reviews calls it “A fresh look at family…full of beautifully spun sentences and marvelous imagery,” Caroline Leavitt, author of New York Times Bestselling Cruel Beautiful World calls it “enchanting,” and Lilith Magazine praises its “wit, humor, and soul.”