Memorial Page for Bel Kaufman

Bel Kaufman, born Belle Kaufman (10 May 1911 in Berlin; died 25 July 2014 in Manhattan), was an American writer and teacher. Her novel Up the Down Staircase grew from her experience in New York public schools and told the daily life of an urban high-school faculty through memos, letters, student notes and internal forms.

Berlin, Odessa and Kyiv

Kaufman was born in Berlin while her father was studying medicine there. The family later returned to the Russian Empire; Kaufman grew up in Odessa and Kyiv. Her mother, Lyalya Kaufman, wrote for the Yiddish press. Her grandfather was Sholem Aleichem, whose stories about Tevye later helped form the basis of Fiddler on the Roof.

Arrival in New York

In 1923, Kaufman came to the United States with her family. She initially spoke no English and was placed very low in the American school system. She then caught up quickly, attended Hunter, graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College in 1934 and earned a master's degree in English literature from Columbia University.

Teacher and writer

Kaufman taught in New York public schools while also writing short stories and articles. Belle became Bel as a pen name, a concise form that was not immediately read as female. The name followed her through a period when editors and publishers judged women writers within narrower expectations than men.

Up the Down Staircase

In 1962, Kaufman published the short school story From a Teacher's Wastebasket in the Saturday Review. From it she developed the novel Up the Down Staircase, published by Prentice-Hall in 1965. The book follows teacher Sylvia Barrett through forms, notices, letters and conversations. It turned school bureaucracy, frustration, humour and closeness to students into narrative form and was adapted into a 1967 film starring Sandy Dennis.

Later years

After Up the Down Staircase, Kaufman published the novel Love, Etc. in 1979. She remained active as a speaker, storyteller and teacher; at 99 she taught a course on Jewish humour at Hunter College. Bel Kaufman died on 25 July 2014 at the age of 103 in her apartment in Manhattan.