Greene was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Arthur Evensky and Sadie, but was raised in the small city of Parkin, Arkansas, where her parents ran the general store. Her maternal grandparents were Hyman and Tillie Steinberg who had a successful general store in Wynne, Arkansas. As a Jewish girl in a town of Christian fundamentalists, she experienced discrimination and learned what it was like to be an outsider. Since her parents spent a lot of time in their store, Greene was raised mainly by her family's African-American housekeeper, Ruth, who was Greene's model for the character of the same name in Greene's debut novel, Summer of My German Soldier. Just before Greene entered high school, her family returned to Memphis. Although she began writing for newspapers during her high school years and even won first prize in a local essay contest, she received poor grades in English because of her difficulties with spelling and punctuation. After graduation, she spent a year studying in Paris, France, an experience that would later serve as the background for Morning Is a Long Time Coming. After a year abroad, she returned to Memphis and became a reporter for United Press International. After taking classes at several colleges, Greene enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, where she focused on writing and astronomy. After graduation, she worked as a part-time journalist and a public information officer before marrying physician Donald Sumner Greene and moving with him to Boston. The couple have two grown children; it was after the birth of her daughter Carla that Greene began to write Summer of My German Soldier. The novel took five years to complete; after two more years spent searching for a publisher and eighteen rejections, the book was published by Dial Press in 1973.
Other writings
Contributor of articles to periodicals
Short fiction included in anthologies
Creator of Bette Greene Teaches Writing, Christy Johnson Productions, 1999
;Summer of My German Soldier ;Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe ;Them That Glitter and Them That Don’t
Adaptations
Summer of My German Soldier was adapted as a television movie starring Kristy McNichol, Bruce Davison, and Esther Rolle and broadcast by NBC in 1978; The film was released as a filmstrip by Miller-Brody Productions in 1979. A new musical version of the novel with music and lyrics written in collaboration among Bette Greene, David Brush, and Jim Farley opened in Ohio in August 2003, staged by Encore Theater Company. Summer of My German Soldier also has been released on audio-cassette. Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe was adapted into a filmstrip by Miller-Brody Productions in 1979. Both books have been released on audiocassette. The Drowning of Stephan Jones was optioned as a film by Telling Pictures.
