Tillie Olsen (1912 – 2007) was born in Nebraska to Russian-Jewish immigrants whose socialist politics and activism inspired her work. Following is a selection of  quotes by Tillie Olsen.

Olsen wrote her first novel, Yonnondio: From the Thirties, at the age of 19 while she was helping support her family, though it wasn’t published until some years later.

Olsen felt she didn’t fulfill her potential as a writer, spending many years raising four daughters. She poured some of that frustration into what’s now considered a feminist nonfiction classic, Silences (1978). Perhaps her best known work is the short story Tell Me a Riddle. Read More→