Rita Golden

Rita Golden Gelman, born July 2, 1937, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is an American writer and Broadway performer. She grew up in a family that operated a small pharmacy, where she worked the soda fountain as a teenager. She attended Beardsley Elementary School, followed by Warren Harding High School for one year and Bassick High School for her remaining three years, graduating in 1954. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature from Brandeis University in 1958, and later received a Master of Arts in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984.

Following her graduation from Brandeis, Gelman relocated to New York City, settling in Greenwich Village. It was during this period that she pursued a career as a Broadway performer, appearing in productions between 1959 and 1965. Her stage credits include Happy Town and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. She married Stephen Gelman in 1960, and the couple had two children: a son, Mitch, born in 1962, and a daughter, Jan, born in 1963. Gelman lived in Greenwich Village until 1976, after which she moved to Los Angeles, remaining there until the late 1980s. She and Stephen Gelman divorced around 1986.

Gelman launched her writing career in 1972 with the children's book Dumb Joey, a story about a group of children in New York City who had no place to play. She went on to author more than 70 children's books, among them More Spaghetti, I Say! (1993), featuring a spaghetti-obsessed monkey named Minnie; Body Battles (1992), which examines how the human body defends itself against viruses, drugs, and poisons; Body Noises (1983), covering involuntary physical sounds such as sneezes, yawns, and flatulence; and Rice is Life (2000), which explores the cultivation and harvesting of rice on the island of Bali.

In 1987, Gelman sold all of her possessions and began living without a permanent home, spending the following years in developing countries around the world. Her memoir, Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World, published in 2001 by Crown Publishing Group/Random House, chronicles the first fifteen years of that nomadic existence. In October 2014, the book reached fourth place on The New York Times Best Seller list in the Love and Relationships category. In June 2010, she published a second adult book, Female Nomad and Friends, Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World, an anthology featuring 41 authors — all but two of them women — sharing stories of cross-cultural connection. The volume includes 33 international recipes and eight contributions by Gelman herself. All author royalties from the anthology fund scholarships, organized through Rotary International, that send high school graduates from slums in New Delhi to vocational schools.

Gelman founded the organization Let's Get Global, which works to encourage and support recent high school graduates in pursuing gap years that include international experiences. She has delivered keynote addresses for a number of colleges and organizations. Though she describes herself on her website as a modern-day nomad, she has at times temporarily resided in New York City.