Tillie Olsen passed away on the night of Jan. 1. Her story is inspirational for anyone who has struggled to be a writer while raising a family and paying the bills. She raised four girls alone and was 50 years old when she published her first book, the story collection Tell Me a Riddle (she won the O’Henry Award for the title story).

Read Constance Corner’s very interesting biographical sketch of Olsen at Modern American Poetry.

Olsen’s granddaughter, Ericka Lutz, is the co-editor of the online magazine Literary Mama.