When, a few days ago, I received the wonderful news that Kantika had won a National Jewish Book Award—the Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy—I was stopped short by the fact that Becky Levy shares a name with my grandmother, Rebecca née Cohen Baruch Levy—the inspiration for and central subject of my novel.  Quickly, though, my surprise turned to something else, an of-courseness, as in of course they share a name, just as of course I stumbled, in my research, on a 1929 film containing unattributed footage of my family, and of course I was welcomed with open arms by the many people I asked (often out of the blue) for help—relatives and scholars, residents of Istanbul’s Oryom Old Age Home, musicians, Ladino speakers, fellow writers, my editor, Riva Hocherman, who saw the soul of the story and helped me draw it out.  While the Sephardic world I encountered contains plenty of hardship and doors slammed shut, it is also notable for being full of hopeful crossings—geographic, linguistic, cultural, religious—and for brimming with stories and song.  The journey I took to write Kantika was full of generous people across several continents. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who welcomed me, and to the Jewish Book Council and its judges for the award.