EZRA GUTMAN

EZRA GUTMAN (b. October 7, 1916)

            He was the son of Khayim Gutman, “Der Lebediker.”  Born in New York, he studied in Sholem-aleykhem schools through middle school in New York.  He began writing at age ten.  He published his poetry in Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s journal), edited by Shmuel Niger, and later in Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal), Amerikaner (The American), and Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), among other serials.  At age thirteen his poetry collection appeared in print: Ershte trit (First step) (New York: Farlag Idish lebn, 1929), 32 pp., with a dedicatory poem, “Tsu ezra” (To Ezra), by Mani Leib, a preface by B. Rivkin, and a letter from Shmuel Niger.  He later began to write in English.  At age sixteen he published in English in: The Nation, The New York Times, and The New York Herald Tribune, all in New York.  For two years he was a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, and at this writing works as a contributor to the weekly Time in New York.

Source: Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (New York) (August 1933).