Steven Otfinoski

Last updated
Steven Otfinoski
Born (1949-01-11) January 11, 1949 (age 72)
Queens, New York
OccupationWriter, playwright
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Education Boston University
Children2

Steven Otfinoski is an author and playwright from Connecticut. Most of his books are aimed at young readers. He has written well in excess of 100 books. He is also the author of African Americans in the Performing Arts (A to Z of African Americans). Two music-related books he wrote were The Golden Age of Rock Instrumentals and The Golden Age of Novelty Songs. He has written books about people such as Nelson Mandela: the fight against apartheid, and Oprah Winfrey: television star.

Contents

Background

Oftinoski is a married father of four who lives in Connecticut with his family. He graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio and attended Boston University. [1] [2] He has written over 100 books for young readers. [3] FRom 1972 to 1973 he was a news reporter for The Hartford Times . From 1974 to 1975, he was editor for Read magazine. From 1975 onwards he has been a freelance writer. From 1992 onwards he has been with the traveling theater company, History Alive, [4] which brings history alive for American students, with student participation after the play. [5]

Written works

In his book The Golden Age of Rock Instrumentals , he says that Surf music with its stage behavior, its untamed nature was the precursor to garage, punk and grunge. [6] He has also written a book about surfing, Extreme Surfing which was published in 2012. [7]

Children's books

His book Coin Collecting for Kids was published in 2000. [8] [9] A later publication, The Child Labor Reform Movement: An Interactive History Adventure is aimed at 9 and 10 year olds. [10]

Plays

In December 2014 15th through to the 21st, his play Stratford Characters, a story about local historical figures was running at Square One Theater in Connecticut. [11] Along with other productions, it received critical praise in mid 2015. [12] A short play he wrote was run acted out at the Berkshire Playwrights Lab festival, held in late January 2017. [13] His short play All You Can Eat which was one of six short plays inspired by the theme of food will take place in Stratford late March. [14]

Related Research Articles

Robertson Davies Writer (1913−1995)

William Robertson Davies was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", an unfashionable term Davies gladly accepted for himself. Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate residential college associated with the University of Toronto.

Easy listening Popular music genre

Easy listening is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, non-rock vocals and instrumental covers of selected popular rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the rock and roll era, characteristically on music from the 1940s and 1950s. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental beautiful music format by its variety of styles, including a percentage of vocals, arrangements and tempos to fit various parts of the broadcast day.

Berkshires Region in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut

The Berkshires are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that extend south into western Massachusetts; the portion extending further south into northwestern Connecticut is grouped with the Connecticut portion of the Taconic Mountains and referred to as either the Northwest Hills or Litchfield Hills.

The Sentinals were a surf rock band from San Luis Obispo, California (1961–1965). The band is notable for a Latino influence in some works, such as "Latin'ia" (1962). Notable band members included Tommy Nuñes, drummer John Barbata and Lee Michaels on keyboards.

Duncan Ball Writer (1941−[[Category:Errors reported by Module String]]String Module Error: Target string is empty)

Duncan Ball is an American-born Australian author who has written the children's series Selby and Emily Eyefinger.

Jim Murphy (author) American author

Jim Murphy is an American author of more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children, young adults, and general audiences, including more than 30 about American history. He won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for his contribution in writing for teens.

Allan Stratton

Allan Stratton is a Canadian playwright and novelist.

Tony Abbott (author) American author of childrens books

Tony Abbott is an American author of children's books. His most popular work is the book series The Secrets of Droon, which includes over 40 books. He has sold over 12 million copies of his books and they have been translated into several other languages, including Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. He has also written Firegirl and The Copernicus Legacy.

<i>Catwings</i> Childrens fantasy story and picture book, 1989

Catwings is a series of four American children's picture books written by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by S. D. Schindler, and originally published by Scholastic from 1988 to 1999. It follows the adventures of kittens who were born with wings. Catwings is also the title of the first book in the series. The series is in print from Scholastic as of August 2015.

Raunchy (instrumental) 1957 single by Bill Justis

"Raunchy" is an instrumental by American rock and roll artist Bill Justis, co-written with Sidney Manker and produced by Sam Phillips. The tune, from the album Cloud 9, was released as a single on the record label Phillips International Records, a sub-label of Sun Records, on September 23, 1957.

American Shakespeare Theatre

The American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It was formed in the early 1950s by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, John Percy Burrell, and philanthropist Joseph Verner Reed. The American Shakespeare Festival Theatre was constructed and the program opened on July 12, 1955, with Julius Caesar. The theater building burned to the ground on January 13, 2019.

Peter Lerangis American author

Peter Duncan Lerangis is an American author of children's and young adult fiction, best known for his Seven Wonders series and his work on the 39 Clues series.

Willy Holtzman is an American playwright and screenwriter, often focusing on theatrical representations of actual historical events. Holtzman has received two Pulitzer Prize nominations, a Humanitas Prize, a Writers Guild Award, a Peabody Award, as well as an HBO Award at the National Playwrights Conference.

The Revels were an American rock band from California, associated with the 1960s surf music craze. They had hits with "Six Pak", and "Church Key" which was their most famous single.

Greg Neri is an American author and is known for his work in young adult fiction. He has written books in free verse and novelistic prose, as well as graphic novels. Neri has received awards from the American Library Association, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the International Reading Association.

Anthony J. Hilder was an American author, film maker, talk show host, broadcaster, news correspondent and former actor. In the late 1950s to the mid 1960s he was also a record producer, producing music mainly in the surf genre. He headed a couple of record labels as well as working for various others. He was also a publisher.

For other record labels named Impact Records, see Impact Records (disambiguation)

Harrison David Rivers is an American playwright. Rivers' work has won him the Relentless Award, a GLAAD Media Award, a McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights, a Jerome Foundation Many Voices Fellowship, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship, a Van Lier Fellowship and the New York Stage & Film's Founders Award. He is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota and is married to Christopher Bineham.

"Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" is a song released in 1958 by Dicky Doo and the Don'ts. Aside from the nonsense syllables of the title, which are repeated three times, it is an instrumental. "Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" reached No. 40 on the Billboard "Top 100 Sides", while reaching No. 42 on Billboard's chart of "Best Selling Pop Singles in Stores".

Norman Knowles is a surf musician, band leader, and record producer from California. He is the composer of several classic surf songs, including as co-writer of the surf classic "Church Key", which was a hit for The Revels. He also has been involved in band management, managing another surf band, The Sentinals. Knowles has made a significant contribution to the surf genre.

References

  1. ↑ Scholastic Inc. - Steven Otfinoski
  2. ↑ Capstone - Steven Otfinoski
  3. ↑ Scholastic Inc. - Steven Otfinoski
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia.com - Otfinoski, Steven 1949-
  5. ↑ Arts For Learning Connecticut - History Alive
  6. ↑ Gitarre & Bass – Das Musiker-Fachmagazin, 12. December 2015 - Surf Rock: Als Musiker die Welle machten, Wilde Kerle - Geschrieben von Thomas Wübker
  7. ↑ Deadly Hard-Hitting Sports - By Jeff Savage - Page 30 Further Information
  8. ↑ The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reading with Your Child - By Helen Coronato - -
  9. ↑ Guiding Readers Through Non-Fiction: Effective Strategies for Small-Group Instruction - By Tom Rossi, Dave Leochko - Page 21 Report
  10. ↑ Iowa Public Radio, November 26, 2013 - 2013 Holiday Kids' Book List By Charity Nebbe & Katherine Perkins
  11. ↑ New York Times , December 5, 2014 - Events in Connecticut for Dec. 7-13, 2014
  12. ↑ Stratford Star , June 9, 2015 - Square One announces Subscriber Award nominees
  13. ↑ The Berkshire Eagle , Tuesday, January 24, 2017 - Curtain going up on Berkshire Playwrights Lab festival
  14. ↑ Stratford Star, March 7, 2017 - Festival of staged readings to benefit Sterling House food pantry
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.