Liberty's Quest

The Compelling Story of the Wife and Mother of Two Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winners, James Wright and Franz Wright

by Liberty Kovacs

Libby’s Oldest Son, Franz Wright, Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winner, Says. . . Liberty Kovacs is the most inspiring person I have ever known. The wife and mother of two infamously, recklessly self-centered, and self-destructive writers (I’m the son), her life—as teacher, therapist, and writer —is an embodiment of self-sacrifice, triumph over adversity, and the never-ending quest to lessen rather than contribute to the suffering of other human beings. It is a religious life, in the truest and most literal sense, and this book is the history of that life. I know it will provide serenity, courage, and inspiration to anyone in need of them.  —Franz Wright, Poetry Pulitzer Prize Winner for his 2003 poetry collection, Walking to Martha's Vineyard and author of The Beforelife, God's Silence, The Night World and the Word Night, and others

With generous candor and charm, Liberty Kovacs shares her remarkable story of a woman and a family facing life’s challenges and finding its joys and sense of self. The wife and mother of two Pulitzer Prize winning poets, she reveals her own remarkable life here. As she declares, "I wanted to reveal all the secrets, myths, and superstitions that ran rampant throughout our lives." We travel with her from family roots in Greece to early life in Martins Ferry, Ohio, on to life with poet James Wright in Seattle and Minneapolis, and finally after divorce to San Francisco, remarriage and a career as a family counselor. Taking "the road less traveled," the author gives us a tale of trials, travail, and triumph. It is a joy to the spirit. – Larry Smith, author of Milldust and Roses:  Memoirs

ATTENTION college professors and students as well as all who want a really good read:

This book is also now available on Kindle (click here).

Liberty Kovacs’ life story has all the elements of the American Dream, both its myth and its reality. Breaking free from the patriarchal rule of her Greek immigrant family, she set an uneasy but independent course that led to her becoming a nurse and marrying fellow Ohioan, the poet James Wright. Headed for the fabled Land of Happiness, Life broke in with all its unpredictable misery: living in Minneapolis with their two sons, the marriage was soon riven by alcoholism, angers, unspeakable trauma, and eventually bitter divorce. Bereft but courageous, Liberty set a new course and headed west to San Francisco where she had a scholarship to study psychiatric nursing. A single mother, she experienced triumphs in her profession, married again and bore a third son — that household too fell victim to unhappiness and despairs. Yet with each blow, her spirit rose again and again, never giving up on herself or her sons, whom she writes about with disarming openness. Liberty Kovacs has endured, endures, with what can only be called a spiritual, and maybe American, will. Reading this memoir, we experience her life as an epic quest toward wisdom, learning how to live, as she writes, with love, acceptance and generosity.  —Merrill Leffler, publisher of Dryad Press, author of Partly Pandemonium, Partly Love (poems) and Take Hold

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
(Eleutheria) Liberty (Kardules, Wright) Kovacs, Ph.D., MFT, MSN . . . is a self-actualized Greek-American octogenarian who grew up (and lived much of her adult life) between cultures. In spite of the drama and challenges, Libby led a life of admirable perseverance and courage to be all she could be. She not only changed generational patterns and went to nursing school and college at the price of being disowned by her father, but she went all the way to earn an MFT and MSN, and then at age 52, a Ph.D. She worked as a marriage and family therapist into her late seventies. On top of this, she raised three sons, sometimes single parenting, sometimes being caught in the middle with step-parent issues.  And to feed her soul, for nineteen years she courageously went white-water rafting.