About

Gwen Strauss is an award-winning author and poet, whose titles include Milena and Margarete, The Nine, Trail of Stones, The Night Shimmy, Ruth and the Green Book, and The Hiding Game. Her poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous places including The New Republic, New England Review, Kenyon Review, and Catapult. Her book, The Nine was a New York TImes Best Seller and is currently in development for a TV series. She lives in Southern France where she works as the Executive Director of the Dora Maar Cultural Center.

Featured Work

Milena and Margarete, A Love Story in Ravensbrück

2025
cover of the book

An exploration of resistance, forbidden love, and literary legacy, as revealed through the intertwined lives of two extraordinary women: Milena Jesenská and Margarete Buber-Neumann. Milena and Margarete is a work of a narrative nonfiction that revives the lost history of two political prisoners who found courage and companionship in the most harrowing of places—Ravensbrück concentration camp. Milena, Kafka’s first translator and one of the first journalists to sound the alarm about Hitler’s rise, and Margarete, a survivor of both Stalin’s gulags and Nazi camps, made a pact to survive and bear witness. In a time when love between women was stigmatized, their bond became an act of ultimate defiance.

Other Works

  • The Nine

    2021

Awards and Recognition

  • • The Nine o New York Times Bestseller o Goodreads list of NEW & ANTICIPATED HISTORIES & BIOGRAPHIES • The Hiding Game o 2017 Parent’s Choice Award • Ruth and the Greenbook, with Calvin Ramsey and Floyd Collins. A children’s picture book; Lerner, 2010. o ALA 2011 Most Notable Middle Grade Reader o Selected as one of ten books “all young Georgians should read” by the Georgia Center for the Book o ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award o Skipping Stones Book Award o Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children o Independent Publisher Book Award o Whitney and Scott Cordozo Award for Children's Literature o Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year o Honor book for the Jane Adam's Peace Prize o Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices o Jefferson Cup Award finalist