Helen Weinzweig (1915‒2010) was born on 21 May in Poland to Orthodox Jewish parents; Helen and her mother moved to Toronto, Ontario when she was nine. Weinzeig’s childhood was fraught with difficulty and poverty, in part due to her mother’s lifestyle. She contracted Tuberculosis at about 17, which she recovered from for two years in Gravenhurst, a sanatorium for tuberculosis treatment ‒ giving her ample time for reading. During this time, she educated herself on world religion and Western literature. Weinzweig eventually married John Weinzweig, and they had two children. It was not until her mid-40s that Weinzeig began to write. Weinzweig’s first novel, Passing Ceremony, was published in 1973. She went on two write Basic Black with Pearls (1980) and A View from the Roof (1989), which is a collection of stories. Weinzweig was a founding member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, a playwright at Tarragon Theatre, and a Writer-in-Residence at the University of New Brunswick at various points in time. Helen Weinzweig died in Toronto on 11 February 2010.
Sources:
“Helen Weinzweig.” Wikipedia. 2021. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Weinzweig.
Rabinowitz Green, Rhoda. “Helen Weinzweig: From Pain to Prose.” Inanna Publications, 23 March 2016. www.inanna.ca/2016/03/23/helen-weinzweig-pain-prose/.
Scowen, Peter. “Helen Wenizweig, Toronto author of surreal fiction, dead at age 94.” The Globe and Mail, 16 February 2010. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/helen-weinzweig-toronto-author-of-surreal-fiction-dead-at-age-94/article1208661/.