Biography
Sherry L. Ross
Sherry Ross grew up in a family of artists and authors. Her daily life as a child encouraged artistic expression in all the arts. Her father, Leon Lazarus, was a freelance writer by trade and began his career, after WWII, working on staff for Stan Lee, writing comic book stories. He went freelance the year Sherry was born, continuing to write comic stories for both Stan Lee at Marvel, and his competitor, Dell Comics, and then hundreds of magazine articles. Her mom, Marjorie, who studied at the Chicago Art Institute, also wrote romance stories and eventually became the art director for a manufacturing company that created logos and designs.
Sherry's early years were in the Bronx, near her dad's side of the family. She considers her two uncles, Sidney and Harry Lazarus, as mentors. They were professional artists, illustrators and wrote and illustrated several of their own books. Family outings with her younger sister and cousins often included taking time to sketch in nature. Summers were spent with her mother's side of the family in Michigan, not far from the Great Lake. Her love of nature continued to bloom in Michigan's forests and beaches. Her mom knew a lot about plants and taught her to recognize the local flora and fauna. Eating a fresh winterberry, the author recalls, remains a powerful memory.
The author's training in early adulthood included two years at the iconic Art Students League on West 57th Street in New York City. She then worked as a designer for a trimmings company in the fashion industry in the Garment District of Manhattan. She took four workshops with the beloved poet David Ignatow, who had a critical influence on her poetry. He taught her that each poem should have a theme, a message to convey. Wonderment, illustrated and written by the author, is Sherry's newest release. Ms. Ross has two other books of poetry, a children's fantasy novel, and a cookbook to her credit.
She now lives with her husband, Fred, 90 minutes outside of New York City, surrounded by forest and nature, and only 20 minutes away from their daughter and son-in-law, and their fraternal twin granddaughters. She is always looking for discoveries and revelations in the quiet of nature.
