On April 15, I’m honored to be going to the University of Hartford to receive this year’s Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Kantika. My younger daughter, Sylvie, a college junior at Wesleyan University in nearby Middletown, CT, will be my date! Previous winners of the Wallant Award include many writers whose work I love, among … Read more
I had the huge pleasure of doing an event at the Jewish Museum in New York City last week, following two days of festivities and a panel for the Jewish National Book Awards (Kantika received the award for Sephardic Culture). Titled “Wandering Jews: Two Diasporic Journeys Out of the Ottoman Empire,” the 4/28/24 event was … Read more
The paperback of Kantika comes out in April 2024, with early copies making their way out into the world already! I’m excited for a number of events, both virtual and in-person, where I’ll have the chance to continue to share this story, so close to my heart, with readers, and have conversations with an amazing … Read more
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 … Read more
I was so excited to learn that Kantika had been selected as this year’s book for San Francisco’s Jewish Community Library’s “One Bay One Book 2023 program,” and even more excited when I saw the line-up of virtual lectures the program has organized around the themes of the book. Running from November through late Spring … Read more
I was so happy to get to talk about Kantika with author and podcaster G.P. Gottleib. She’s a wonderfully appreciative and perceptive reader, and she gave me the chance toward the end of the podcast to focus on the character of Luna, who was inspired by my wonderful aunt, Luna Leibowitz. Luna was born in … Read more
Kantika comes out on April 18th! I’ll have my launch reading at the wonderful Newtonville Books and do other events throughout New England, as well as online. I’m so looking forward to getting to be in conversation with other writers whose work I love, including Tova Mirvis, Aaron Hamburger (whose new novel, Hotel Cuba, is … Read more
THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE at Henry Holt & Co. have designed a set of images that pair photos from Kantika with quotes from the book; they will post them on social media as the April 18th publication date draws near. See below for a sneak peek. Using family photographs in this novel was very important to … Read more
I just finished reading a wonderful book, One Hundred Saturdays, by Michael Frank. The author spent seven years of Saturdays interviewing a woman named Stella Levi, who grew up in the Sephardic community of Rhodes before it was obliterated by the Nazis. Stella was among the ten percent of people who survived. She’s an extraordinary … Read more
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