Tema Nason

Areas of Expertise

Fiction and Non-Fiction Writing

Current Project

Tema will be working on transforming her novel Ethel into an opera with Scholar composer Ruth Lomon.

Biography

Brooklyn born and bred by immigrant parents fleeing from pogroms.  A Depression era child, I sympathized with the workers and unemployed and majored in labor economics.

But my first job during World War II was as a junior member (first woman hired) at Williams College. A very challenging experience, but when offered a position with the Chicago War Labor Board, I bolted. Learned a great deal about realities faced by workers in steel mills, etc.; subsequently worked for the CIO in New York, Washington, and West Coast.

After marriage while raising a family, I yearned to become a writer.  And I have, publishing both articles and fiction.  My earlier experiences contributed in writing the Rosenberg novel.

Often I still feel as though I’m off on a scouting expedition to report back home what it’s like out there. No, no, I want to tell them, it’s not at all like you said.

Education

M.F.A., The Johns Hopkins University

B.A., Brooklyn College

Representative Publications

Nason, Tema.  “A Stranger Here, Myself.”  The Crimson Edge: Older Women Writing.  Ed. Sondra Zeidenstein.  Goshen, CT: Chicory Blue Press, 1996.

Nason, Tema.  ETHEL: The Fictional Autobiography of Ethel Rosenberg.  New York: Delacorte Press, 1990.