The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-19
AS SCRUB WOMAN SHE STARTED, BUT IS NOW FAMOUS
Russian Immigrant Girl F Is Successful Writer
 Of Novels

NEW YORK, Oct. 13.-FrOm scrub-woman to novelist, might we'll be the significant title of a volume depict ing the adventures of Anzia Yezierska. Hers is an astonishing story of Rus sian Jewisr immigrant who came to America some twenty years ago by way of steerage; who became household servant, a scrubwoman, a sweatshop worker, and a what not in the scramble for a livelihood, and who rose to the :. highly enviable position of one of the foremost fiction writers in the country.
 Here is an extraordinary tale of hungry woman, a seeker of beauty whose sole purpose it was to write. and to write of the struggles of her fellow sufferers; to depict their miseries, their heart-rending pleas for recognition. and their touching invocations for chance, an opportunity.
 II haven't been able to get an idea for three days" began Miss Yezirska as we sat in the Grosvenor hotel on Fifth avenue, New York. discoursing on literature. the East Side, and vari- ous phases of life. Perhaps that is why Miss Yezierska subsequently studied her interviewer closely, observing his man. nerisms, commenting on his apparel, ln- quiring about his works. and in gen. eral playing the part of the interviewer herself, proving that her interest in people has not abated one whit.
 9 Marvellous Personality
 Here, I thought, was a marvellous personality. and splendid woman: And I listened to her foreign-accented words. words disclosing a pleasing p,odesty on the part of Anzia Yezier- ,,-ko x,-oe Y,,ora int in the n- teryiewer than she was in herself.
 I'm afraid you'll have to answer my questions" I began. And then I learned that Anzia Yezierska's favOrite books are "Lummox," by Fanny Hurst. and '.So Boz by Eduna Ferber, the latter one of the greatest she had ever read. I was apprised that Miss Yezierska reads very little; that she spends her time in writing. writing and writing. And I learned that there is no other country like America that it is not where you came from that counts, but what you can do !' that "women konw women better than men" as far as literature is concerned, and that "wom- en never know men,"
 Every novel contains something of the novelist in it." she said after l had alluded to "Salome of the Tenements, " a story whose heroine was nearly oil of Miss Yezierska, or so I had as- serted
 '"The secret of success lies in your keeping at it." declared Miss Yezierska. You've got to hammer away for all you are worth"
 To aspiring authors she would give this advice: Always give something that is wanted, something new and fresh. But keep right at it. Cut out every thing else in life. Art is a jealous mistress, and you must bow to her only. And if you feel that it's in you, keep at it till your last breath. The real beginning is when you have faith Tn yourself. And with faith you can sue ceed. There. is a kind of humility in faith. But don't give up:''
 Surely, Anzia Yezierska must know whereof she speaks, for she has received no few rejection slips herself. And to quote the words of Miss Yezierska :: My stories had no plots. I found out thot that was the conventional thing to do-write with plot. My stories had no beginning, no ending They were like life itself-they began mo- where. and they ended nowhere. For seven years I've been writing, and SlOWiSs anu oAONAJ
 Of her authorship, Miss Yezierska said: q grind at the language. Writ ing is the hardest work in the world. It's all inspiration. write out of chaos and confusion. I have no set rlan. All the fire in me would burn out if I were to know what l was go- ing to do in advance. I'd cool down and I wouldn't be able to write"
 To quote Miss Yezierska from an article in which she describes her initia- tion into the realm of literature: Why is it that so many of the educated, with nothing to say, know how to say that nothing with such an easy flow of words, while I, with something aching to be said can say nothing?"
 That's Anzia Yezierska. Impetuous, impatient, full of the fire of life and youth, imbued with a great passion to write, to produce, to create. A groper for words and a medium of expression, she aims to depict reality, beauty, force and the very breath of life: Doubtless her greatest struggle has been with herself: to find that elusive solution to the command. "Know myself" But Anzia Yezierska in person IS calm, collected, earnest and reticent woman Once you prompt her to become enthu' siastic, you will stimulate the Anzia ,ezierska of her pen.
 an, rrKSTVER REST IN TEENS