Alicia Ostriker
A fearless poet and critic who reshaped American verse by giving voice to the raw truths of motherhood, the female body, and Jewish feminist experience.
Born 1937 (age 89)·American poet and scholar·Birthday: November 11·The Silent Generation
Biography
Alicia Ostriker stepped into a poetic landscape that often politely avoided the visceral realities of women's lives. She changed that conversation. With unflinching candor and intellectual rigor, her work delved into subjects like childbirth, domesticity, and desire, breaking a cultural silence that had constrained even confessional poets. As a scholar, she applied the same penetrating gaze, writing seminal critical works that re-examined the Bible through a feminist lens. For Ostriker, poetry is an act of midwifery, pulling deep, often subversive truths into the light. Her decades of writing have earned her some of the highest honors in American letters, not as a distant figure, but as a vital, questioning voice that continues to challenge and expand what poetry can be and whom it serves.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Alicia was born in 1937, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alicia Was Born
The biggest hits of 1937
#1 Movie
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Best Picture
The Life of Emile Zola
Alicia's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1937Born
Hindenburg disaster; Golden Gate Bridge opens
Gas: $0.20/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" — Ella FitzgeraldBest Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
1942Started school
Battle of Midway turns the tide in the Pacific
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,175Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"White Christmas" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Mrs. Miniver
1950Became a teenager
Korean War begins
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,354Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Goodnight Irene" — Gordon Jenkins & The WeaversBest Picture: All About Eve
1953Could drive
DNA structure discovered by Watson and Crick
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $8,750Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Song from Moulin Rouge" — Percy FaithBest Picture: From Here to Eternity
1955Could vote
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
1958Turned 21
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1967Turned 30
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1977Turned 40
Star Wars premieres; Elvis dies
Gas: $0.62/galHome: $31,800Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Tonight's the Night" — Rod StewartBest Picture: Annie Hall
1987Turned 50
Black Monday stock market crash
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $72,400Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Walk Like an Egyptian" — The BanglesBest Picture: The Last Emperor
1997Turned 60
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 70
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 80
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 89 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Served as the Poet Laureate of New York State from 2018 to 2021, advocating for the art of poetry across the state.
- Elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2015, a lifetime leadership position in the American poetry community.
- Authored 'The Nakedness of the Fathers,' a groundbreaking work of feminist midrash that re-imagines Biblical stories.
- Published 'Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America,' a influential critical study of feminist poetics.
Did You Know?
She is a twin; her sister is the historian and writer Midge Decter.
She taught English at Rutgers University for many years before retiring as a professor emerita.
She began publishing poetry in the 1960s while raising three children.
Her book 'The Book of Seventy' won the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry in 2009.
“A poem is an act of resistance against the forces that would silence us.”
