Richey Novak was born and raised in Texas, served in the US Navy, and then studied in the United States, Paris (where he met Sigrid at the Sorbonne), Heidelberg, Germany, and Mexico City. He holds the BA and MA in philosophy from Columbia University and the PhD in German from the Johns Hopkins University. He has taught language and philosophy at Wilson College in Pennsylvania, Duke University in North Carolina, the Abadan Institute of Technology in Abadan, Iran, the McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and the State University of Ceara in Fortaleza, Brazil. Sigrid Scholtz Novak was born and raised in Silesia at a time when it was part of Germany. She went to school in her hometown of Breslau and after the war in Jever, North Germany. She studied in London and Paris before coming to America; there she continued her education at the Johns Hopkins University, earning the master's degree in creative writing and the PhD in German. She taught language and literature at Wilson College in Pennsylvania, Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, the Abadan Institute of Technology in Abadan, Iran, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and the State University of Ceara in Fortaleza, Brazil. Ziggy and Richey are now retired and live in Southern California. They have published several books, together and independently. They have two sons, four grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
