Isabelle Maynard is an author and historian. She was an administrative social worker in the San Francisco Bay area for more than thirty-five years.
Background
Isabelle Maynard was born on March 3, 1929, in Tientsin (now Tianjin), China. Maynard was the only child of Russian Jewish parents - Abraham David and Sophia (Joffe) Zimmerman - who had fled the Communists and sought refuge in Tianjin on the North China Sea. They subsequently survived the Japanese invasion of China and ultimately escaped to San Francisco. As a child, Maynard seldom set foot outside the area where her family lived among other Jewish refugees from Russia.
Education
Maynard received her bachelor's degree from University of California in 1954, as well as Master of Social Work degree in 1956. She also studied at Shelton Studios Acting and Theater School.
Maynard served as a social worker and administrator in and around San Francisco, from 1954 till 1991. She also worked for International Institute, Contra Costa County Social Services Child Welfare Unit and Adult Protective Services.
Additionally, Maynard performed in theaters as an actor, including One-Act Theater, Talespinners Theater, Eureka Theater in San Francisco, and Marin Theater in San Rafael. Maynard was a member of the board of directors of Stagebridge - theater of senior actors - and Elder Abuse Prevention Consortium. Maynard's one-act play The Ace was produced in San Francisco at the Talespinners Theater in 1986.
Now Maynard concentrates on writing. She is the author of the one-act play titled The Ace, as well as of a screenplay China Maydeleh. Maynard's book China Dreams: Growing Up Jewish in Tientsin is a collection of autobiographical stories of her childhood. Maynard also creates performance pieces, monologues for the theater and staged readings. Her work is represented in anthologies, including Across the Generations, A Tribe of Dina: An Anthology of Jewish Women Writers, Fierce with Reality and World of Jewish Stories. Maynard is also a contributor of stories and poems to magazines, including Crescent Review, New Press, Short Story International, Oasis, Sideshow, Fiction Primer, Kaleidescope, San Francisco Short Story Review, Present Tense and Facets.
Quotations:
"I write because I cannot imagine not writing. I write because my mind spins stories constantly, and unless I ant having a block, my work is in front of me constantly—when I swim, when I drive, and so on."
"I am influenced by everything I read and everything I observe. My writing often reflects what I am reading at the moment."