Kaplan, Howard 1950-

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KAPLAN, Howard 1950-

PERSONAL: Born July 6, 1950, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Albert (a painting contractor) and Clara Kaplan. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1972; University of California, Los Angeles, M.A., 1974; also studied at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1970-71. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—2862 Anchor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064. Agent—Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc., 845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Jewish Agency, Jerusalem, Israel, lecturer, 1972-73; Los Angeles Hebrew High School, Los Angeles, CA, teacher of Jewish history, 1973-74; writer, 1974—.

WRITINGS:

The Damascus Cover (novel), Dutton (New York, NY), 1977.

The Chopin Express (novel), Dutton (New York, NY), 1978.

(Collaborator) Judith Jamison, Dancing Spirit: An Autobiography, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor) That Delicate Balance II: Our Bill of Rights; Instructor's Guide, American Bar Association, Special Committee in Youth Education for Citizenship (Chicago, IL), 1994.

(With Robert J. Danzig) The Leader within You: Master Nine Powers to Be the Leader You Always Wanted to Be, Lifetime Books (Hollywood, FL), 1998.

Waiting to Sing (for children), DK Ink (New York, NY), 2000.

(Collaborator) Paul Szilard, Under My Wings: My Life As an Impresario, Limelight Editions (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Howard Kaplan has helped two noted dancer/choreographers, Paul Szilard and Judith Jamison, to write their memoirs. In Dancing Spirit: An Autobiography Jamison recalls her years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and her work as artistic director of the company. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "welcoming, intelligent and chatty," noting further that it "also brings down to earth the experience of performing." Under My Wings: My Life As an Impresario contains Szilard's account of his life, beginning in Hungary and including his years as a dancer in Europe and, later, as an impresario on two continents. Carolyn M. Mulac of Library Journal observed of the book that dance fans "will devour every tasty morsel of backstage drama."

Kaplan's Waiting to Sing is a children's book that deals frankly with grief and healing. A boy and his father love to play the piano, but after the boy's mother dies a silence falls in the household. Finally, father and son are able to reconnect by playing the mother's favorite song, "Für Elise." "This quiet story celebrating art is itself a work of art," declared Michael Cart in Booklist. Kate McClelland in School Library Journal likewise found the work to be "rich in graceful metaphors and imagery," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer styled Waiting to Sing "a carefully crafted, deeply felt book likely to be more appreciated by older readers than the typical picture book crowd."

Kaplan once wrote: "At the age of twenty-two while involved in smuggling textbooks into the Soviet Union and microfilm out, I was arrested by the KGB and interrogated for four days. This experience coupled with extensive travel through the Middle East combined to set the background for my first two novels."