About Marcia Falk

Marcia Falk was born in New York City and grew up in a traditional Jewish home on Long Island, where she was immersed in Jewish learning and Hebrew language from an early age. As a teenager, Marcia fled the suburbs for Manhattan, to take classes at the Art Students League and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

She graduated Brandeis University, magna cum laude, in Philosophy, and went on to Stanford, where she earned a doctorate in English and Comparative Literature, translating the biblical Song of Songs into English poetry for her dissertation. Along the way, she studied Hebrew language and literature as a Fulbright scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to which she returned, five years later, as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Marcia was a professor of literature, Jewish studies, and creative writing for many years at the State University of New York at Binghamton and the Claremont Colleges. Today she is a popular public speaker, giving readings, talks, and workshops on subjects ranging from Jewish women’s voices to the love poetry of the Bible. She has published several books of poetry and translations Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as a groundbreaking re-creation of Jewish liturgy, The Book of Blessings, which has garnered international attention. The Days Between is that book’s long-awaited sequel.

In the past two decades, Marcia has returned to her first love, painting. Among her recent projects is a series of mizrachs—wall hangings that bring together visual images with blessings and poems.

Marcia lives in Berkeley with her spouse, the poet Steve Rood. They are the parents of a twenty-five year-old, Abraham Gilead Falk-Rood (aka Abby).