Books
in print
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Playing The Part
Collected PoemsPoems on the difficult realities of relationships and the story of connection.
Body Parts
Short StoriesThe stories follow well-meaning people whose lives suddenly go in unexpected directions.
Hex House
Children's BookThe house had six sides—but that wasn't the reason people called it Hex House.
The Great Burgerland Disaster
Children's BookMike gets a job at Burgerland—but Burgerland wasn't quite ready for Mike.
Recent
Events
Betty has led several programs for writers in area towns,
as well as readers' discussion groups at Kent Memorial Library.
Writer's Programs
“Writing Your Life” is a memoir writing program that Betty Krasne has given in several Litchfield County towns. Members of each eight-session group create personal essays in response to suggested topics. By reading their works out loud and discussing the material as a group, the program helps participants understand what makes for a good story, how they can build on their strengths as writers, and how to shape a series of pieces into a larger work.
[quote from LCT editorial “Memories Are Made of This” 12 May 2006: paragraph 5]
WHAT STUDENTS HAVE SAID ABOUT “WRITING YOUR LIFE”
“Anyone seriously interested in writing a memoir would do well to take this course.”
“It got me started, not only sorting out the family photographs, but also writing down some of my stories, which I had always intended to do ‘someday’.”
“I discovered the enjoyment of writing...”
“With this course I not only had a reason to write but someone to encourage me with suggested topics. It was nice to meet other writers and listen to their stories. It was a rewarding experience.”
“Betty Krasne has the ability to teach without being critical. We all felt encouraged and enlightened by her direction, suggestions and support.”
For more information, or to find out about current Memoir Writing Groups, please email: betty@bettykrasne.com
Reader's Programs
Betty Krasne has conducted several book discussion groups for the Kent Memorial Library. Because narrative is her literary interest, she chooses novels, by male and female authors, on a topic of broad interest. Each group meets once a month over the course of four months to discuss both the individual works and the larger topic. The variety of backgrounds and ages of participants makes for lively discussions in a friendly atmosphere.
Previous discussion group topics include:
• Tales of the 1%
• Leaving Homelands
• Community—Its Ins & Outs
• Does Class Matter in Modern American Fiction?
• Does Fiction Rewrite History?
• Novels of Contemporary Immigration
• Novels of Adolescence—At Home & Abroad
• Nationality and War
• The Road Trip
For more information, please visit the Kent Memorial Library web site and search “Events” or follow the link below: Book Discussion Group at Kent Memorial Library: https://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org/programs-for-adults/
In The
News
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Memoir Writing Program
6 Sept. 2019"Writing Your Life" is an eight-week writing program taught by Betty Krasne, PhD. She will offer the program this fall at the Kent Library. The goal of the program is to give participants a tool box of skills that can be used to compose a series of short pieces (two to four pages each). These pieces can be used as the basis for a longer work, or to sharpen general writing skills.
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Betty Krasne introduces new book
16 Aug. 2019KENT—Join the Kent Memorial Library for a book talk and signing with local author Betty Krasne. She will discuss her newly published book, "The Good Life?" This special event will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 7, at the Library. The book will be available for purchase and signing.
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Writers reflect on their new work
10 July 2019The Kent writer and retired professor from Mercy College is well-known for her volunteer activites around town, including serving on the Kent Affordable Housing board of Directors and previously on the Kent Memorial Library Board. She also is a regular presenter for the library, offering writing classes and leading a spring and fall book discussion.
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Kent Resident's Memoirs Examine Discordant Elements of a Life
27 Oct. 2006KENT—For many people, life is a seamless progression, a journey that prompts no introspection about conflicting influences, good or bad. The awareness of a dichotomy in her life came as a surprise to English literature professor and author Betty Krasne when she sat down to write her fourth book, a book that would look back at her life as the child of an emigrant Russian father and a socially correct bourgeoisie mother.
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Salisbury Class Helps Turn Stories of Life Into Memoirs
4 May 2006SALISBURY—Betty Krasne believes that everyone has a story to tell. It is with this in mind that the longtime Mercy College English professor and Kent resident has taken to teaching memoir writing classes in area libraries. She is currently teaching the eight-week course at Salisbury's Scoville Memorial Library to about a dozen would-be memoirists.
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Tribute to Robert Levine
9 Feb. 2013Robert Levine obituary published in Litchfield County Times, on Feb. 9, 2013.
About
Betty
Betty Krasne is the author of poems, articles, and seven books. For the greater part of her career she was a professor at Mercy College, in Westchester, N.Y. Known as “Dr. K,” she was Director of the Honors Program and the McNair Scholars Program. She grew up in New York City, raised her family in Westchester, but presently lives in Northwest Connecticut, the foothills of the Berkshires.
She is a graduate of The Ethical Culture Schools and Mount Holyoke College. She has a M.A. from the Faculty of Philosophy at Columbia University and a Ph.D. from The Union Institute.
As a professor at Mercy College in the Division of Literature, Language, and Communication, she specialized in narrative. Her own narrative voice has been heard in three novels for young readers, under the name Betty K. Levine: Hex House, Hawk High, and The Great Burgerland Disaster.
All her fiction is intimately connected to a sense of place, but characters and events that develop within her narratives are products of the author’s imagination. Her first novel, Hex House, is set in Westchester, New York. It was inspired by the Armour-Stiner (Octagon) House in Irvington-On-Husdon, which the family used to pass in walks on the Croton Aqueduct.
Her second book, Hawk High, takes place in a small town in the foothills of the Berkshires, along the Housatonic River. It takes much of its geography, and the plot that builds around that geography, from the New England landscape. It developed from hikes the family took in the mountains surrounding their house.
The Great Burgerland Disaster is set in Westchester, New York. The story of a fast food chain subverted by good cooking was suggested by the experience of one of the author’s children who did a brief stint in a fast food chain.
In addition, her articles, short stories, and poems have appeared in such publications as: The New York Times, The Litchfield County Times, The Forum For Honors, The MHC Quarterly, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, The Journal of Appalachian Studies, and The Maine Scholar.
Betty Krasne has also delivered more than a dozen scholarly papers, with a focus on narrative and writing by women.
For more information please email: betty@bettykrasne.com
Soup
Lovers
"For better, for worse, but not for lunch."
This old saying can trip up couples when both work at home. Souplovers blog tells how soup saved the day. Every recipe has a story and Souplovers blog gives the backstory, ingredients, and recipes for keeping a supply of easy homemade soups on hand.
Recent
Artwork
Gallery shows and press releases.
Portraiture
May 1 - June 30, 2013Curated by Leslie Lillien Levy at Kent Memorial Library.
Betty Krasne & Roz Molho Exhibit their Paintings at the Kent Memorial Library
Oct. 18 - Dec. 31, 2008Contact
Betty
Email Betty at
betty@bettykrasne.com.