Liz Murray

Liz Murray grew up to impoverished, heroin-addicted, HIV-infected parents. At age 9, she started bagging groceries and pumping gas. She did not attend school until 8th grade. Her mother also suffered from blindness and mental illness, and died of AIDS-related tuberculosis when Liz was 15. Liz often only went to school to pick up train passes and a hot meal. When her father moved to a shelter, Liz found herself living on the streets, eating from dumpsters and finding shelter on all-night subway routes. She had dismal grades due to poor attendance, but was accepted by the Humanities Preparatory School in Greenwich Village, where she encountered teachers who cared about her welfare. Liz began to read literature and study physics, but still had no stable place to stay. She did her homework in subway stations and stairwells. Because she started high school late (age 17), she doubled her courseload and finished high school in two years. She received a New York Times scholarship for needy students and was accepted to Harvard, where she began classes in 2000. Her memoir 'Breaking Night' is due from Hyperion Books in 2005.