Clara Silverstein

Clara Silverstein is the author of three books, a long-time food writer in the Boston area, and the Program Director of the summer Chautauqua Writers' Center.

Clara's two cookbooks were published in the fall of 2007. The Boston Chef’s Table (Globe Pequot Press), presents more than 100 contemporary recipes from the city's top chefs, including Jody Adams, Todd English, Barbara Lynch, and Ming Tsai – plus a few traditional favorites. Customized for home cooks, the recipes are printed with a profile about each chef, cooking hints, and Boston food lore.

Clara is also co-author of The New England Soup Factory Cookbook (Thomas Nelson), a collection of recipes from chef and company founder Marjorie Druker. A top seller in the soup and stew category on amazon.com, the book is now in its second printing and offers 100 traditional and creative soup recipes, as well as sandwiches and salads from Marjorie's award-winning restaurant.

A journalist for more than 20 years, Clara has published articles in Health magazine, Prevention, Runner's World, American Heritage, and the Boston Globe. Formerly a food writer at the Boston Herald daily newspaper, Clara for 13 years informed readers about the city’s chefs, restaurants, and food trends. She also contributed several entries to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.

Clara’s first book, the memoir White Girl: A Story of School Desegregation (University of Georgia Press) chronicles her experiences as a white child bused to predominantly African-American schools in the 1970s. Under a court desegregation order, she attended the public schools in Richmond, Virginia until she graduated from high school. She went on to earn a B.A. in American Studies from Wesleyan University. Now she participates in anti-racism groups in the Boston area.

Since 2000, Clara has been Program Director of the Chautauqua Writers' Center, a series of poetry and prose writing workshops held each summer at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. Her poems have been published in literary journals including the Paterson Literary Review, Hiram Poetry Review, The Comstock Review, and Blackbird.

When not writing, Clara runs with far more enthusiasm than speed. She finished the 2008 Boston Marathon with a team that raised money for Bottom Line, a charity that helps disadvantaged Boston students go to college. She has also finished two other marathons, four triathlons, and several road races. Clara and her husband live near Boston with their two children, ages 15 and 18.