Michael J. Rosen
Encyclopedia
Michael J. Rosen is an American author of a variety of novels, ranging from children’s picture books to adult poetry, and editor of several anthologies varying almost as broadly in content. He has acted as editor for Mirth of a Nation
and 101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells, and his poetry has been featured in The Best American Poetry 1995
.
, on September 20, 1954, Michael J. Rosen is the eldest of Marvin and Nona Rosen’s three children. Rosen spent his childhood exploring the wilderness around the former pasture in which his parents had built their house and taking drives through the country with his family. His childhood, and part of his adulthood, were also filled with summer camp, an institution which he attended as a camper from age four to thirteen and as a counselor from fourteen to twenty-six. Rosen was never the type to play well in team activities; he states that the more solitary activities at camp “spared me the uneasiness I felt when playing team sports like Little League or spending phys ed class time waiting to be chosen, wishing to be elsewhere. That dread of being singled out lingered through middle school. I never realized that almost everyone there harbored some reason to feel uncomfortable.” Perhaps a contributing factor was the bullies who harassed him through his school years. His favorite place at school was the art room, where he spent all his free time during school hours; after school Rosen would continue with his artistic inclinations through drawing, collecting comics, and spending parts of his weekend at the advertising agency operated by his best friend’s father. His parents, a loving couple, were very supportive in all his pursuits, as were several of his teachers and neighbors.
After he graduated from high school, Rosen chose to go to Kent State University
for a year before transferring into the pre-med program at Ohio State University
. He finished up as an animal behavior major in 1976 and attended St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada
for a short time before going on to work as an instructor for Ohio State University
through 1985. During that time, he also attended Columbia University
, earning his Masters in poetry in 1981.
in Columbus, Ohio
. During his near-twenty-year stay as literary director, Rosen was the editor for several compilations of James Thurber
’s writings; he also was involved in the creation of the Thurber Prize for American Humor
. Rosen has also “taught in the Ohio Art Council Poetry-in-the-Schools Program and Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist-in-the-Schools Program, and has conducted over 500 young authors' conferences, in-service days, writing workshops, guest author days, and residencies (for elementary, middle school, and high school students and teachers).”
: The Best Contemporary Humor, 101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells, The Cuckoo’s Haiku, and Elijah's Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas. Rosen says of his ideas on writing, “A story must be a real enough house so that you can walk around, get comfortable, grab something from the fridge, and then be surprised by the ideas that haunt the place.”
Rosen has also acted as an illustrator for several works, among them The Blessing of the Animals, Food Fight: Poets Join the Fight Against Hunger with Poems to Favorite Foods, and a variety for Gourmet (magazine)
and The New Yorker
.
: The Best Contemporary Humor, originally published in 2000, is an anthology of contemporary humor written by over fifty comedians, writers, and other funny fellows, and edited by Michael J. Rosen. Mirth of a Nation
was reviewed positively by January Magazine
, a review in which Jonathan Shipley said that “Michael Rosen, author and editor of many notable books for adults and children as well as the literary director of The Thurber House, has collected some funny writing. Seriously, it's good stuff.” When interviewed, Michael J. Rosen said that “Mirth... and More Mirth of a Nation make another claim: That humor writing is seriously funny. Now of course I mean "genuinely" funny, but I also mean also "seriously" as in "profound" — humorists are among the few dependable sources of honest (re)calibration and reality checking.” The volume was later published in 2002 as an audiobook, and in 2007 in hardcover format. Rosen also edited two additional humor anthologies in the same vein, More Mirth of a Nation (published November 2002), and May Contain Nuts (published September 2004).
and Kirkus Reviews
, as well as being named a Best Book of 2009 by Kirkus Reviews
. It was also nominated for the 2009 Cybils award for poetry and the 2010 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book. Publishers Weekly
’s review said of the book that “text and images, like a well-rehearsed duet, balance and echo each other’s beauty.”
Rosen was interviewed several times due to the success of The Cuckoo’s Haiku. When asked by Bill Eichenberger of The Columbus Dispatch
about the similarities between birds and haiku, Rosen wrote that “Both are fleeting impressions. Rather than whole stories and studied observations, these two arts usually offer snatched glimpses and surprising hints... For me, looking at one specific thing, one species, helps to focus and clarify ideas or principles that apply more broadly.” In another interview, on the website The Miss Rumphius Effect, Rosen explained that he would “always cherish one of W. H. Auden’s definitions of poetry: clear thinking about mixed feelings,” and also, in an interview by Julie Danielson on Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast, that “Writing about wildlife is really writing about my own life”.
, and several other sources. It has also been named a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection.
lived. Among other honors, the story has received the National Jewish Book Award (1993), has been named an American Bookseller’s Pick of the Lists, was designated by Parents’ Magazine as the Best Book of 1992, and was the inspiration for a family opera by composer Robert Kapilow
. Ari L. Goldman
of The New York Times
called the book “so finely done that the drawings and the story line compete for attention.”
Once Upon a World Book Award for A School for Pompey Walker, the Juvenile Literature Ohioana Library Award for The Heart Is Big Enough, and the Ohioana Library Career Citation in children’s literature. He has accepted grants from the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council
and the National Endowment for the Arts
. Additionally, he has been named a fellow to the Ohio Arts Council
(in poetry) and the National Endowment for the Arts
, and an Ingram Merrill fellow in poetry.
. He stays busy running around the country to literary conferences and classrooms trying to spread his love for literature, writing, and illustrating. His interests, around which his work sometimes centers, include dogs, cooking, and philanthropy. Because of his interest in and books about dogs, The Washington Post
gave him the name of “fidosopher”, a name he liked enough to appropriate it for his website.
as “an example of creative philanthropy”. Rosen has served on the board of directors for Share Our Strength
for over fourteen years; the profits from six of the books he has created benefit the organization, including two cookbooks with recipes from over one hundred and fifty of the United States’ most esteemed chefs. In 2005, his efforts were recognized by the organization with its first Lifetime Achievement Award. In an interview by ABCDBooks about Down to Earth, Rosen explained that learning about Share Our Strength
was like seeing “a door where before I had perceived a wall. It takes all kinds of people with all sorts of talents to address any cause we might face.”
Rosen also established his own granting program, The Company of Animals Fund, in 1990; the program “offered support to animal welfare agencies providing emergency or ongoing care to companion animals from the profits of seven books and two touring illustration exhibits.” The fund was benefitted by “three anthologies of short stories, collections of commissioned personal essays and visual suites, children’s books, and sidelines such as boxed cards and illustrated address books.” Rosen has been quoted in an interview saying “It has been an enormous honor to precipitate such collections and a concomitant reward to know that these generated funds offer such lasting benefits. Rather than imagine this a unique design, I hope that such collective philanthropy becomes a perennial enterprise in publishing.”
Mirth of a Nation
Mirth of a Nation is a humor anthology edited by Michael J. Rosen.* Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095321-7* More Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095322-5* May Contain Nuts ISBN 0-06-051626-7-External links:* * *...
and 101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells, and his poetry has been featured in The Best American Poetry 1995
The Best American Poetry 1995
The Best American Poetry 1995, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Richard Howard....
.
Early life
Born in Columbus, OhioColumbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, on September 20, 1954, Michael J. Rosen is the eldest of Marvin and Nona Rosen’s three children. Rosen spent his childhood exploring the wilderness around the former pasture in which his parents had built their house and taking drives through the country with his family. His childhood, and part of his adulthood, were also filled with summer camp, an institution which he attended as a camper from age four to thirteen and as a counselor from fourteen to twenty-six. Rosen was never the type to play well in team activities; he states that the more solitary activities at camp “spared me the uneasiness I felt when playing team sports like Little League or spending phys ed class time waiting to be chosen, wishing to be elsewhere. That dread of being singled out lingered through middle school. I never realized that almost everyone there harbored some reason to feel uncomfortable.” Perhaps a contributing factor was the bullies who harassed him through his school years. His favorite place at school was the art room, where he spent all his free time during school hours; after school Rosen would continue with his artistic inclinations through drawing, collecting comics, and spending parts of his weekend at the advertising agency operated by his best friend’s father. His parents, a loving couple, were very supportive in all his pursuits, as were several of his teachers and neighbors.
After he graduated from high school, Rosen chose to go to Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
for a year before transferring into the pre-med program at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. He finished up as an animal behavior major in 1976 and attended St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
for a short time before going on to work as an instructor for Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
through 1985. During that time, he also attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, earning his Masters in poetry in 1981.
Career
After getting his MFA in poetry, Rosen started work as a design consultant for the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts in 1982. In 1983, he became the literary director of the Thurber HouseThurber House
Thurber House is a literary center for readers and writers located in Columbus, Ohio, in the historic former home of author, humorist, and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber...
in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. During his near-twenty-year stay as literary director, Rosen was the editor for several compilations of James Thurber
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
’s writings; he also was involved in the creation of the Thurber Prize for American Humor
Thurber Prize for American Humor
The Thurber Prize for American Humor, named after American humorist James Thurber, recognizes outstanding contributions in humor writing. The prize is given out by the Thurber House. It was first awarded irregularly, but since 2004 has been bestowed annually....
. Rosen has also “taught in the Ohio Art Council Poetry-in-the-Schools Program and Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist-in-the-Schools Program, and has conducted over 500 young authors' conferences, in-service days, writing workshops, guest author days, and residencies (for elementary, middle school, and high school students and teachers).”
Notable Works
Michael J. Rosen is a very prolific author who has been involved in the creation of over eighty books. He first began his career as an author in 1984 with the publication of a book of poetry called A Drink at the Mirage. Rosen has written on a wide variety of topics, ranging from children’s books on religion (Our Eight Nights of Hanukkah; The Blessing of the Animals) to books about dogs (With a Dog like That, a Kid like Me... ; The Company of Dogs: Twenty-one Stories by Contemporary Masters) to humorous fact books on various subjects (No Dribbling the Squid: Octopush, Skin Kicking, Elephant Polo and Other Oddball Sports; Balls!; The 60-Second Encyclopedia). Some of his most popular works include his most recent book Any Body's Guess!: Quirky Quizzes About What Makes You Tick, Mirth of a NationMirth of a Nation
Mirth of a Nation is a humor anthology edited by Michael J. Rosen.* Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095321-7* More Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095322-5* May Contain Nuts ISBN 0-06-051626-7-External links:* * *...
: The Best Contemporary Humor, 101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells, The Cuckoo’s Haiku, and Elijah's Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas. Rosen says of his ideas on writing, “A story must be a real enough house so that you can walk around, get comfortable, grab something from the fridge, and then be surprised by the ideas that haunt the place.”
Rosen has also acted as an illustrator for several works, among them The Blessing of the Animals, Food Fight: Poets Join the Fight Against Hunger with Poems to Favorite Foods, and a variety for Gourmet (magazine)
Gourmet (magazine)
Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....
and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor
Mirth of a NationMirth of a Nation
Mirth of a Nation is a humor anthology edited by Michael J. Rosen.* Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095321-7* More Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095322-5* May Contain Nuts ISBN 0-06-051626-7-External links:* * *...
: The Best Contemporary Humor, originally published in 2000, is an anthology of contemporary humor written by over fifty comedians, writers, and other funny fellows, and edited by Michael J. Rosen. Mirth of a Nation
Mirth of a Nation
Mirth of a Nation is a humor anthology edited by Michael J. Rosen.* Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095321-7* More Mirth of a Nation ISBN 0-06-095322-5* May Contain Nuts ISBN 0-06-051626-7-External links:* * *...
was reviewed positively by January Magazine
January Magazine
January Magazine is a Web-based book-related publication. Founded by author Linda L. Richards and graphic artist/photographer David Middleton in 1997, January has added various sections and offshoot publications since....
, a review in which Jonathan Shipley said that “Michael Rosen, author and editor of many notable books for adults and children as well as the literary director of The Thurber House, has collected some funny writing. Seriously, it's good stuff.” When interviewed, Michael J. Rosen said that “Mirth... and More Mirth of a Nation make another claim: That humor writing is seriously funny. Now of course I mean "genuinely" funny, but I also mean also "seriously" as in "profound" — humorists are among the few dependable sources of honest (re)calibration and reality checking.” The volume was later published in 2002 as an audiobook, and in 2007 in hardcover format. Rosen also edited two additional humor anthologies in the same vein, More Mirth of a Nation (published November 2002), and May Contain Nuts (published September 2004).
The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems
The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems is a book of haikus on birds, written by Rosen and illustrated by Stan Fellows. It has been very well reviewed, given a starred review by Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
and Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
, as well as being named a Best Book of 2009 by Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
. It was also nominated for the 2009 Cybils award for poetry and the 2010 Ohioana Book Award for Best Juvenile Book. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
’s review said of the book that “text and images, like a well-rehearsed duet, balance and echo each other’s beauty.”
Rosen was interviewed several times due to the success of The Cuckoo’s Haiku. When asked by Bill Eichenberger of The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal stopped printing in 1985....
about the similarities between birds and haiku, Rosen wrote that “Both are fleeting impressions. Rather than whole stories and studied observations, these two arts usually offer snatched glimpses and surprising hints... For me, looking at one specific thing, one species, helps to focus and clarify ideas or principles that apply more broadly.” In another interview, on the website The Miss Rumphius Effect, Rosen explained that he would “always cherish one of W. H. Auden’s definitions of poetry: clear thinking about mixed feelings,” and also, in an interview by Julie Danielson on Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast, that “Writing about wildlife is really writing about my own life”.
Balls!
Balls! is a humorous factbook about the history of “a host of spheroids (and one notable ellipse) that make the sporting world go round” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, qtd. in ). Balls! has been positively reviewed by the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, the Midwest Book ReviewMidwest Book Review
Midwest Book Review is an organization which maintains several book review publications. Established in 1976, the organization's Editor-in-Chief is James A. Cox. Midwest Book Review produces several book review publications per month, with a goal of encouraging small press and increasing literacy....
, and several other sources. It has also been named a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection.
Elijah’s Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas
Elijah’s Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas is a multiple award winning tale about the friendship between a 9-year-old and an 80-year-old barber. The book’s title character is based on Elijah Pierce, a barber nearby to whom both Rosen and the book’s illustrator Aminah RobinsonAminah Robinson
Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson is an American artist.-Life:She graduated from the Columbus Art School cum laude in 1960, studying at Ohio State University, Franklin University, and Bliss College....
lived. Among other honors, the story has received the National Jewish Book Award (1993), has been named an American Bookseller’s Pick of the Lists, was designated by Parents’ Magazine as the Best Book of 1992, and was the inspiration for a family opera by composer Robert Kapilow
Robert Kapilow
Robert Kapilow is an American composer, conductor, and music commentator. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and a student of Nadia Boulanger...
. Ari L. Goldman
Ari L. Goldman
Ari L. Goldman is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and a former reporter for The New York Times.Goldman attended the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School on the Lower East Side of Manhattan...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the book “so finely done that the drawings and the story line compete for attention.”
Awards
Michael J. Rosen has received numerous awards from a variety of sources. Some of his most noteworthy include the National Jewish Book Award for Elijah's Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas, the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of ToleranceMuseum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance , a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, USA, with an associated museum and professional development multi-media training facility in New York City, is designed to examine racism and prejudice in the United States and the world with a strong focus on the history of...
Once Upon a World Book Award for A School for Pompey Walker, the Juvenile Literature Ohioana Library Award for The Heart Is Big Enough, and the Ohioana Library Career Citation in children’s literature. He has accepted grants from the Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
The Ohio Arts Council is an agency serving the U.S. state of Ohio.Established in 1965, its mission is to "foster and encourage the development of the arts and assist the preservation of Ohio's cultural heritage." Each year it awards grants to arts organizations and individuals throughout the state...
and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. Additionally, he has been named a fellow to the Ohio Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
The Ohio Arts Council is an agency serving the U.S. state of Ohio.Established in 1965, its mission is to "foster and encourage the development of the arts and assist the preservation of Ohio's cultural heritage." Each year it awards grants to arts organizations and individuals throughout the state...
(in poetry) and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, and an Ingram Merrill fellow in poetry.
Personal life
Rosen is now living in Glenford, OhioGlenford, Ohio
Glenford is a village in Perry County, Ohio, United States. The population was 198 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Glenford is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land....
. He stays busy running around the country to literary conferences and classrooms trying to spread his love for literature, writing, and illustrating. His interests, around which his work sometimes centers, include dogs, cooking, and philanthropy. Because of his interest in and books about dogs, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
gave him the name of “fidosopher”, a name he liked enough to appropriate it for his website.
Philanthropy
Michael J. Rosen was named by The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as “an example of creative philanthropy”. Rosen has served on the board of directors for Share Our Strength
Share our Strength
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and utilizes social media efforts to raise funds which are then used to fund long-term solutions to the hunger problem...
for over fourteen years; the profits from six of the books he has created benefit the organization, including two cookbooks with recipes from over one hundred and fifty of the United States’ most esteemed chefs. In 2005, his efforts were recognized by the organization with its first Lifetime Achievement Award. In an interview by ABCDBooks about Down to Earth, Rosen explained that learning about Share Our Strength
Share our Strength
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and utilizes social media efforts to raise funds which are then used to fund long-term solutions to the hunger problem...
was like seeing “a door where before I had perceived a wall. It takes all kinds of people with all sorts of talents to address any cause we might face.”
Rosen also established his own granting program, The Company of Animals Fund, in 1990; the program “offered support to animal welfare agencies providing emergency or ongoing care to companion animals from the profits of seven books and two touring illustration exhibits.” The fund was benefitted by “three anthologies of short stories, collections of commissioned personal essays and visual suites, children’s books, and sidelines such as boxed cards and illustrated address books.” Rosen has been quoted in an interview saying “It has been an enormous honor to precipitate such collections and a concomitant reward to know that these generated funds offer such lasting benefits. Rather than imagine this a unique design, I hope that such collective philanthropy becomes a perennial enterprise in publishing.”