Hanna Perlstein Marcus

MANCHESTER – Hanna Perlstein Marcus, former director of human services for the Town of Manchester has won first prize in the 2010-2011 short story competition sponsored by CAPA, the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. The prize was awarded at CAPA’s annual Anniversary and Awards Dinner held on March 19 in Avon.
A licensed clinical social worker, Marcus’ story, “Pattern Markings,” is adapted from her yet-to-be published memoir, “Sidonia’s Thread: Secrets of a Mother and Daughter Sewing a New Life in America.” The short story tells the tale of a seven-year old girl who is identified as the key witness in a fatal school bus accident. Torn by her perceived duty to her mother and her new country, and her imagined reality about the circumstances surrounding the death of a schoolmate, the little girl must decide how to deal with the American justice system and her first brush with death. The story is based on a true incident that occurred in the author’s hometown of Springfield , Mass.
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Connecticut graduate schools of education and social work, Marcus has worked as a social worker and human services administrator for the city of Hartford and the town of Manchester, as well as a consultant to various other Connecticut municipalities. A member of Beth Sholom B’nai Israel in Manchester, she serves as co-chair of the synagogue’s Social Action Committee. She has spent the past three years writing her memoir about her experience as an immigrant and clothes model for her mother, a fashion designer and Holocaust survivor.