Richard Elman Papers

Richard Elman was a professional writer of novels, articles, stories, reviews, and poetry. He was born on April 23, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. Elman married Emily Schorr, an artist, on June 16, 1956, and was divorced in 1970. They have one daughter. Elman married Alice Neufeld, a writer, in 1976. They have one daughter, Lila Neufeld Elman. Richard Elman received a B.A. from Syracuse University, 1955, and an M.A. from Stanford University, 1957. The Elmans resided in Stony Brook, New York until Richard's death on December 31st, 1997.

Elman served as the public affairs director for WBAI-FM, Pacifica Foundation from 1961-1964. In 1965, he was a research associate at the School of Social Work Research Center at Columbia University. In 1966, he was a lecturer in English at Hunter College. From 1966-1967, he was a visiting writer at Bennington College. In 1968, Elman became an adjunct professor of writing at Columbia University. In 1974, he became a full-time freelance writer. Elman is the author of twenty-one books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; he has written under his name and under the pseudonyms Eric Pearl, John Howland Spyker, Delmar Hanks, and Michael Parnell.