Sophy Burnham
Born (1936-12-12) December 12, 1936
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation
  • Author
  • playwright
  • essayist
  • journalist
Alma materSmith College
University of Florence
Notable works
  • A Book of Angels
  • The Art Crowd
  • Penelope (play)
Website
www.sophyburnham.com

Sophy Burnham (born December 12, 1936) is an American author, playwright, essayist and poet.

Early life and education

Childhood

She was born Sophy Tayloe Doub to Sophy Tayloe Snyder and George Moffett Cochran Doub. Her father was Assistant Attorney General for the civil division of the Department of Justice during the second term of president Dwight D. Eisenhower.[1] She attended Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Maryland from grammar school through grade 9, and Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia for grades 10–12, where two of her aunts, her mother, her sister, and her cousin had attended as well.[2] Foxcroft was at the time a girls' military and equestrian boarding school with strict discipline.[3] For her senior commencement one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reviewed the military drill. She made her debut to Baltimore society in 1954 at the Bachelors Cotillion.[4]

Smith College and Florence, Italy

She attended Smith College, took her 1957 junior year abroad in Florence, Italy at the University of Florence, and graduated with a degree in Italian in 1958, cum laude, writing a thesis in Italian on the author Italo Svevo, and what is reality?[5][6] In her 20s she began to experience the phenomena that led her later to write A Book of Angels and many other books.[7]

Career

Early work, writing and first publications, 1959–1989

Upon graduation, and beginning in 1959, Burnham worked for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. By the time she left in 1964, she had been promoted to the rank of assistant curator for the Smithsonian Museum Service.[8]

After moving to New York City with her husband and baby, she began freelancing for magazines. From 1964 on she wrote, including cover stories, for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, New York, Vogue, Reader's Digest of Japan and South America, Redbook, Ms., Town & Country, and Esquire.[9] She joined the New York-based feminist group, Media Women, participated in the Ladies Home Journal sit-in of 1970, and many of her articles had a feminist twist.[10][11][12] An influential cover story for New York magazine about the Manhattan art scene led to publication in 1973 of her first book, The Art Crowd, which became a New York Times bestseller and an alternate selection of the Book of the Month Club.[13] From 1972 to 1974 she held her second job, as an associate editor at David McKay Publications in New York. Later in the 1970s having moved back to Washington D.C., she wrote The Landed Gentry: Passions and Personalities Inside America’s Propertied Class as well as two plays, Penelope and The Study, and two children's books, Buccaneer—illustrated by Miki Eagle—and The Dogwalker.[14]

She has always been active in public arts, and was a founding member and past chairman of the Board of The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC.[15] She served on the Octagon Committee of the American Institute of Architects Foundation, and was a founding member of the D.C. Humanities Council, the regranting arm of the National Endowment for the Humanities, where she served for two years as vice-chair.[16]

Machu Picchu

After a spiritual revelation on Machu Picchu on March 28, 1979, documented in Chapter 4 of her 1997 book The Ecstatic Journey ("The Revelation on Machu Picchu"), she returned to the States, where her marriage ended.[17] She wrote six more books in the 1980s but did not publish one for the next ten years, although she continued to publish many articles.

A Book of Angels

In 1990 Burnham's A Book of Angels: Reflections on Angels Past and Present and True Stories of How They Touch Our Lives, was published by Ballantine Books. It became an international bestseller, and it has been translated into 25 languages. In it she recounts stories of angels across time and cultures.[18] She also tells her own story of encountering an angel during a ski accident in Val d'Isère, France.[19] Although an experienced skier, conditions were not ideal and she found herself in peril. A man dressed all in black skied past her husband, came to her aid, and then mysteriously disappeared.[20]

A Book of Angels was first of a cultural phenomenon of books, TV programs, films about angels, and of people who claimed to see angels.[21][22] Literary critic Harold Bloom credited Burnham's book with starting the craze.[23][24] Merchandise was abundant, including an explosion of angel candles, books, cards, posters, and spiritual paraphernalia.[25][26][27]

Burnham spent the next decade giving interviews, talks, and workshops both in the U.S. and abroad. A Book of Angels is sometimes conflated with a play that came after it, Tony Kushner's 1993 Angels in America, about the AIDS crisis, as part of a phenomenon of angel awareness.[28] The author herself attributed the interest in the spiritual to the approach of the new millennium. She has said that "Once people heard other people’s stories, they dared to believe and to tell about their own experiences. It was not that angels were intervening more frequently, but that these inexplicable moments were more easily recognized."[29]

After Angels

Although Burnham's oeuvre is broad and encompasses many themes from art to horses, land, psychology, animals, architecture and the Classics, she remains best known for A Book of Angels.[30] She continues to publish widely, including two more books about angels, Angel Letters in 1991, and in 1993, The President's Angel, a novel. She has published seven subsequent books, both novels and non-fiction, all concerning the spiritual or mystical, along with more plays and essays.

In the 1990s Burnham served as executive director of the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays, working with Broadway producer Roger Stevens.[31] They funded theaters to produce new plays and playwrights to write them.

Awards, grants, and honors

AwardVenueYear
Best Magazine FeatureUnited States Horse Association1969
Daughter of Mark TwainMark Twain Society1974
Office of Advanced Drama Research Award ("Penelope")University of Minnesota1976
Radio play award ("The Witch's Tale")National Public Radio (NPR)1978
Third Prize, Episcopal Drama Award ("Penelope")Episcopal Foundation for Drama1979
Award of Excellence ("Machu Picchu")Communication Arts Magazine, Realités1980
Best Children's Radio Play ("Witch's Tale")National Federation of Community Broadcasters1980
Grant, The University of Alaska, JuneauJuneau Arts & Humanities Council1980
GrantD. C. Arts & Humanities Council1980-81
First Prize ("Penelope")Women's Theater Award, Seattle, Washington1981
GrantThe Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, New Mexico1981, 1983, 1991
Award for Service to the HumanitiesWashington, DC Community Humanities Council1988
Who's Who of American WomenMarquis Who's Who1991-1998
Virginia Duvall Mann Award ("Snowstorms")North Carolina Festival of New Plays1993
Who's Who in AmericaMarquis Who's Who1994–1995, 1997-1999
FinalistTurnip Theatre Company Festival (New York) (The Meaning of Life)2002
Book of the Year Award (Love, Alba)Foreword INDIEFAB2015
Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award[32]Marquis Who's Who2018
Top 50 Books of the YearSpirituality+Health (magazine)
MemberThe Cosmos Club

Personal life

On March 12, 1960, Sophy Tayloe Doub married journalist and author David Bright Burnham at Christ Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Washington, DC.[33] They have two daughters, Sarah Tayloe Burnham and Molly Bright Burnham (herself the author of children's books); and four grandchildren. The couple separated in 1981 and divorced in 1983. In 2019 Burnham, then in her 80s, wrote an article for the "Modern Love" column of The New York Times about the romantic interest of a man 30 years her junior.[34] She continues to write and as a physic and medium gives intuitive or psychic readings.

She lived for many years in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, dividing her time between Washington and Taos, New Mexico. In 2020 she moved to Northampton, Massachusetts full-time. Among her good friends from the time when she lived in Taos is the bestselling writer and filmmaker Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way and many other books and films.[35]

She is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC, where she was very active when in town. She plays on its chess team against clubs in Washington, London, and Paris. She is an avid horsewoman.[36]

Bibliography

Books

  • The Art Crowd, David McKay Inc., 1973. New York Times bestseller. Saturday Review Book Club. Book of the Month Club Alternate Selection.
  • The Landed Gentry, G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1978.
  • The Threat to Licensed Nuclear Facilities (editor), Mitre Corporation, 1975.
  • A Book of Angels, Ballantine Books, 1990. New York Times bestseller. Translated into 22 languages. Book of the Month Club Alternate Selection.
  • Angel Letters, Ballantine Books, 1991. New York Times bestseller. Translated into 20 languages.
  • Revelations (novel). Ballantine Books, 1992. Literary Guild selection. Translated into several languages.
  • The President's Angel (novel). Ballantine Books, 1993.
  • For Writers Only Ballantine Books, 1994.
  • The Ecstatic Journey: The Transforming Power of Mystical Experience Ballantine Books, 1998.
  • The Ecstatic Journey: Walking the Mystical Path in Everyday Life Ballantine Books, 1999.
  • The Path of Prayer Viking-Compass, 2002. Literary Guild Selection. Translated into several languages.
  • The Treasure of Montségur, (novel) Harper San Francisco, 2002. Translated into 4 languages. Paperback 2004.
  • A Book of Angels (new edition), Ballantine Books, 2004. Translated into several languages.
  • The Art of Intuition Penguin/Tarcher, 2011.
  • Love, Alba River Sanctuary Press, 2015. INDIEFAB book of the year award.
  • Falling: Love-Struck: The God Poems, Finishing Line Press, 2016.

Books for children

  • Buccaneer (a novel), Frederick Warne & Company, 1977.
  • The Dogwalker (a novel), Frederick Warne & Company, 1979.
  • The Nightingale, radio play, National Public Radio (NPR), 1980; live performance at the Smithsonian Institution, and in other venues.

Plays

  • Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound (adaptation) and Prometheus Released, a modern version of its lost conclusion. Commissioned by The Studio Theatre, March–April 2002.
  • The Meaning of Life, a play commissioned by Arena Stage. Finalist, Turnip Theatre Company Festival, New York, NY, 2002.
  • Penelope, 1976. A three-act classical drama of Homer's Odyssey, told from the point of view of Penelope. Most recently produced in 2005.
  • The Study, a two-act drama, 1979. Sophy Burnham revised the play as Snowstorms in 1985 and 1993.

Plays for children

  • Beauty and the Beast, NPR radio play, 1979.
  • The Witch's Tale, NPR radio play, 1978.

Films

References

  1. ↑ Bird, David (1981-11-02). "George Doub Dies, Ex-Justice Aide, 79". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (2013-03-14). "I'm Sorry, Aunt Eleanor". Washingtonian.
  3. ↑ Rainville, Lynn (2018). Virginia and the Great War: Mobilization, Supply and Combat, 1914-1919. North Carolina: McFarland Publishers. p. 63. ISBN 9781476631479.
  4. ↑ "Sophy Doub Wed in Capital to David Bright Burnham". The New York Times. 1960-03-13.
  5. ↑ "Smith in the News". Grécourt Gate. Smith College. 2019-01-01. Sophy Doub Burnham '58.
  6. ↑ "Sophy Burnham". Encyclopedia.com.
  7. ↑ Ungurian, Olga (1996-11-27). "Who's to Say Angels Don't Visit Adults?". Richmond Times Dispatch. Burnham said she didn't grow up believing in miracles or angels, but an angel saved her life when she was 28.
  8. ↑ "Smithsonian Institution Online Virtual Archives". Sophy Burnham, former Assistant Curator of the Smithsonian Museum Service.
  9. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1969-03-09). "Twelve Rebels of the Student Right". The New York Times Magazine.
  10. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1970-09-01). "Women's Lib: The Idea You Can't Ignore". Redbook.
  11. ↑ Burnham, Sophy; Knight, Janet (1972-11-10). "The United States of America vs. Susan B. Anthony". Ms.
  12. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1977-06-13). "A Congresswoman Who Cares (Millicent Fenwick)". McCall's.
  13. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1969-12-01). "The Manhattan Arrangement of Art and Money". New York Magazine.
  14. ↑ Wegner, Pamela Sydney (1987). The Women's Project of the American Place Theatre, 1978-1979. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 142.
  15. ↑ Foley, Helene P. (2014). Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 263.
  16. ↑ Shirley, Don (1979-06-08). "D.C. Humanities Council Organized". The Washington Post.
  17. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1997). The Ecstatic Journey: The Transforming Power of Mystical Experience. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 67.
  18. ↑ Winfrey, Oprah (1996-01-30). "What's Your Spiritual Belief?". OWN Podcasts (Podcast). The Oprah Winfrey Show: Super Soul.
  19. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (1990). A Book of Angels: Reflections on Angels Past and Present and True Stories of How They Touch Our Lives. New York: Ballantine. pp. 234–240. ISBN 9780345476968.
  20. ↑ King, Larry (host) (1990-12-21). "Meeting Angels Unawares". CNN Larry King Live. Season 13. Episode 1307. CNN. Two persons who believe their lives were saved by angels describe their experiences and propose that angels exist in everyone's life.
  21. ↑ Viets, Elaine (1992-12-09). "A Host of Reasons Offered for Rise in Angel Sightings". Everyday Magazine, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Angels are hot little devils these days.
  22. ↑ Peay, Pythia (1993-12-12). "Some Washingtonians Think That Angels Have Saved Their Lives, Comforted Them in Times of Sorrow, and Blessed Them With Love". Washingtonian.
  23. ↑ Bloom, Harold (2007). Fallen Angels. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780300123487.
  24. ↑ McHale, Brian (2015). The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodernism. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781107021259.
  25. ↑ Connell, Joan (1993-12-24). "A Craze for Angels is Spreading its Wings". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec.
  26. ↑ Smith, Sebastian (1994-01-13). "Angel Mania Takes Flight in US". Agence France-Presse. More than 40 shops or organizations across the country deal exclusively with angelic merchandise and more than five million books on angels have been sold in mainstream bookstores.
  27. ↑ Woodham, Martha (1994-11-02). "Wings of DESIRE: Public's Longing for Hope and Inspiration Unleashes an Adoration of Angels". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Five years ago only eight books about angels were in print. Now more than 150 angel books are available.
  28. ↑ Schindler, Amy (1999). "Angels and the AIDS Epidemic: The Resurgent Popularity of Angel Imagery in the United States of America". Journal of American Culture. 22 (3): 49–61. doi:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1999.2203_49.x. ProQuest 200622719.
  29. ↑ Mead, Rebecca (1993-04-11). "Putti in Her Hands". The Sunday Times. London, UK.
  30. ↑ Leigh, Eric Schmidt (2002). Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 246. ISBN 9780674009981.
  31. ↑ Maggio, Mike (2013-12-20). "An Interview With Sophy Burnham". Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  32. ↑ "Who's Who Lifetime Achievement". Marquis Who's Who. 2019-01-29.
  33. ↑ "Sophy Doub Wed in Capital to David Bright Burnham". The New York Times. 1960-03-13.
  34. ↑ Burnham, Sophy (2019-02-08). "At What Age is Love Enthralling? 82". The New York Times. Modern Love.
  35. ↑ Cameron, Julia (2010). The Creative Life: True Tales of Inspiration. New York: Penguin Publishing Group. p. 55. ISBN 9781101443415. I decide to outflank [my censor] by phoning an ally. I choose Sophy Burnham, one of the finest writers I know.
  36. ↑ "Cuba v USA match and round 5 game". Doubleroo. Blogger. 2011-05-15.
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