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Edgar Lawrence "E. L." Doctorow, who resides in New Rochelle, turns 83 on Monday.
Doctorow, an author, known internationally for his unique works of historical fiction, was born, Jan. 6, 1931, in the Bronx. To support his family, Doctorow spent nine years as a book editor, first at NAL and from 1964, as editor-in-chief at The Dial Press, publishing work by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Ernest J. Gaines and William Kennedy, among others.
In 1969, Doctorow left publishing in order to write, accepting a position as Visiting Writer at the University of California, Irvine, where he completed "The Book of Daniel" (1971), a freely fictionalized consideration of the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for giving nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was widely acclaimed, called a "masterpiece" by The Guardian. Doctorow's next book, written in his home in New Rochelle was "Ragtime" (1975), later named one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library editorial board.
His subsequent work includes the award-winning novels "World's Fair" (1985), "Billy Bathgate" (1989) and "The March "(2005); two volumes of short fiction, Lives of the Poets I (1984) and "Sweetland Stories" (2004); and two volumes of essays, "Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution" (1993) and "Creationists" (2006).
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