DELLA LEAVITT
WRITER
One-Sentence Story project: "Repeal!" the Turning Points anthology
01 about
Congratulations to the winners of my Women's Fiction Day 2022 give-away:
Tara Baisden, Amy Hagstrom, Noreen McGowan, and Marie Watts
Thank you to all who participated.
"No one could tell me what to do. Then or now." from "Repeal!"
One-sentence story project from Turning Points
Historical Novel-in-Progress: Beyond Maxwell Street
This fictional family saga follows two generations of intertwined Russian Jewish immigrant families who settled on Chicago's West side springing family lore, highlighting women's struggles to claim autonomy in the first half of the 20th century amid limited reproductive choices and economic opportunities.
AWARDS:
2022. One Sentence Stories. Winnetka Community House. "No one could tell me what to do. Then or now." From short story "Repeal!" in Off Campus Writers' Workshop's Turning Points anthology.
2022. Semi-Finalist. Soon to Be Famous Manuscript Project, Illinois Librarians. Beyond Maxwell Street
2021-2022 short-term fellowship from Chicago's Newberry Library to support the historical novel, Beyond Maxwell Street (1911-1956).
2021 Individual Artist Program award from Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to support Beyond Maxwell Street.
Second Place for "Penicillin," in the Off Campus Writers' Workshop flash fiction contest judged by author, poet, DePaul professor, and Rose Metal Press co-founder, Kathleen Rooney.
Kathleen writes: "The density of information in this piece of historical fiction is balanced beautifully by the intimate characterization of the unlikely hero, Sol, showing us how fate and timing have their way with us all."
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Della Leavitt's unpublished novel, The Measure of a Teacher is upmarket, contemporary women's fiction that tells the story of Betty Reifman, a white woman who leaves a tech career at mid-life to teach math at a Chicago high school in 2001 that is resisting an inevitable racial transformation.
Della Leavitt lives in Chicago with her spouse. Their son attended the Chicago Public Schools from Kindergarten through high school graduation. Since 2019, Della proudly serves as volunteer board secretary for the 75-years-running, Off Campus Writers' Workshop.
Della had a full career as a rare female in the early years of the computer and telecommunications industries. She later taught high school math in the Chicago Public Schools and at a bilingual, social justice, adult high school. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School and earned her PhD from the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago with her (unpublished) dissertation (ProQuest: UMI 3417385)
"Meek, but Not Weak!" A Resilient Black Female Mathematics Teacher Composes a Purposeful Life.
"That was the Week that Was"
"Return of the 17-year Locusts" awarded Honorable Mention as judged by John Martin, author and Northern Illinois University professor
"Repeal!" by Della Leavitt, p. 99
04 PUBLICATIONs
Leavitt, Della. (May, 2022). "The Necklace" in FreeFlashFiction. https://freeflashfiction.com/fiction/the-necklace/
Leavitt, Della. (2021). Repeal! (pp. 99-107). In Turning Points: An Anthology from Members of the Off Campus Writers’ Workshop. Rolling Meadows, IL: Windy City Publishers.
Leavitt, Della. (October, 2020). Chicago Literary Hall of Fame guest blogger. https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/blog/entry/persistence-at-the-3rd-annual-virtual-storystudio-conference
Leavitt, Della (August, 2020). GameChangers documentary film. Personal essay contest winner. Remembering the 1965/1966 Marshall vs. New Trier match ups. https://www.gamechangers.film/contest
Leavitt, Della. (2019). The Week that Was. In J. Rehak (ed.) A Reason to Be Here. A collaborative novel
from the Off Campus Writers Workshop. Rolling Meadows, IL: Windy City Publishers.
Leavitt, D.R. (2017). Where I am from. Vitae Scholasticae: The Journal of Educational Biography. Special Issue: Family Methodology. 34(2), 28-31.
Leavitt, Della. (2017). Honorable Mention. The Return of the 17-Year Locusts. Word of Art 3: InPrint
Writers, Rockford, IL.
Leavitt, D.R., Palius, M.F., Babst, R.D, Donegan, R., Lampkin, J.L, Smith, M., & Whitford, P.A. (2013).
Teachers create a Professional Learning Community to be a place of their own. Mid-Atlantic Education Review, 1(1)3-16. Retrieved from http://maereview.org/index.php/MAER/article/view/4/4
Leavitt, D. R. & Washington, E. N. (2013). “I teach like you are all gifted:" Leading lowest-track students to become confident mathematics learners. In A. Cohan & A. Honigsfeld (Eds.), Breaking the mold of education: Innovative and successful practices for student engagement, empowerment, and motivation (4th in a series) pp. 171-178. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Retrieved from https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475803501.
Leavitt, D. R. (2010). Inquiry as Stance: Practitioner Research for the Next Generation, Book review. i.e: inquiry in education, 1(2), Article 7. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/vol1/iss2/7
05 CONTACT
www.DellaLeavitt.com | dellaleavittwriter@gmail.com | Chicago, IL