Avery Corman (born November 28, 1935, in the Bronx, New York) is an American novelist.
He is the author of the novel Kramer vs. Kramer (1977) which created a sea change in attitudes toward child custody with the public and in the courts in the United States and internationally. Robert Benton wrote the screenplay and directed the movie of the same name Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. It won 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screen Play. A previous Corman novel, Oh, God! (1971) was the basis for the movie comedy Oh, God!, screenplay by Larry Gelbart, starring George Burns and John Denver. His other novels include The Old Neighborhood (1980), 50 (1987), Prized Possessions (1991), The Big Hype (1992), A Perfect Divorce (2004), and The Boyfriend from Hell (2006).
In a characteristic assessment of Corman's writing, critic Stefan Kanfer said in Time magazine about the novel, 50, "Avery Corman has a literary gift for dialogue and predicament. Sealed in a time capsule, 50 could tell future generations more about contemporary middle-aged mores than a library of sociological theses."
Foreign language editions of Corman's novels have been published throughout the world. He is the author of articles and essays in a wide number of publications, including The New York Times for which he has written for various sections of the newspaper.
He turned his attention to writing for the stage and collaborated with the composer Cy Coleman on a musical, The Great Ostrovsky, for which Corman wrote the book and also co-wrote the lyrics with Mr. Coleman. It was produced in regional theater in Philadelphia in 2004, a project curtailed with the passing of Mr. Coleman that year.
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Corman is a graduate of the New York City public schools; he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx,[1] New York University (1956) and worked in magazine publishing before becoming a freelance writer of educational films and humor articles. He then wrote his first novel.
A gift by Corman to the City of New York of a restored basketball court in his childhood schoolyard became the catalyst for the creation of the City Parks Foundation. Established in 1989, the foundation has become a multimillon dollar nonprofit creating and funding parks programs throughout New York City, and Corman has served on its board of directors since the foundation's inception.
He was married for thirty seven years to his wife, Judy, who died in 2004. At the time of her death she was Senior Vice President, Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations at Scholastic, Inc. Judy Corman masterminded the publicity for the launch and subsequent publications of the Harry Potter books in the United States. She was a 2001 winner of a Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications. The Cormans' two children are Matthew, a screenwriter, and Nicholas, who works in business development in Silicon Valley.