Literature / Religion
E. M. Broner
1927–2011 · novelist, playwright, feminist ritual writer, professor
Detroit-born Jewish feminist author of A Weave of Women and The Women's Haggadah, who studied and taught for decades at Wayne State.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City
aged 83- Birth name
- Esther Frances Masserman
- Also known as
- Esther Broner
- Detroit years
- 1927–1980s
- Field
- Literature, Religion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Broner was born Esther Masserman in Detroit to a family steeped in Jewish journalism and Yiddish culture, and earned both her bachelor's degree and a master's in creative writing at Wayne State University. She returned there to teach English in 1964, staying for about two decades while writing the experimental fiction that made her name: Her Mothers (1975) and A Weave of Women (1978), a novel about a community of women in Jerusalem. In 1976 she co-created one of the first feminist Passover seders, which grew into The Women's Haggadah, and her later books reimagined Jewish ritual from women's perspectives. Late in life she wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Higginson: An American Life, premiered by Michigan Opera Theatre in 2005.
Highlights
- A Weave of Women (1978), a landmark of Jewish feminist fiction
- Co-created the Women's Seder (1976) and The Women's Haggadah
- Taught English at Wayne State University from 1964
- Book and lyrics for Higginson: An American Life, Michigan Opera Theatre (2005)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1940s (studied); 1964–1980s (taught)
Wayne State University
Her alma mater, where she later taught English for about twenty years.