Wersba's lyrical language and vivid imagery not only give a mystical, dreamlike quality to many of her stories, but these elements also contribute to an overall romantic vision of the world in spite of its harsh realities.
Barbara Wersba was born 19 August 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, the only child of Robert and Lucy Jo Quarles Wersba. Her parents were divorced during her childhood, and Wersba has said that this had a marked influence on her young life. She grew up in California and New York, and although she wrote stories and poems from a very early age, she wanted to be an actress. She began acting in a community theater at age twelve and continued her stage career until 1960, when she decided to write full-time. She took acting classes in high school and majored in drama at Bard College, from which she graduated with a B.A. in 1954, and which awarded her a doctorate of humane letters, honoris causa, in 1977. In addition, Wersba studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Paul Mann Actors Workshop and dance with Martha Graham. From 1944 to 1959, while acting on radio and television, in summer stock, Off-Broadway, and with touring companies, she continued to be a "closet writer" of poems, stories, and fairy tales.
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