The Whole Megillah- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: Stay tuned for the September 18 launch of a new writing program from The Whole Megillah. It’s called Writing Chai, an eighteen-month program of writing prompts and sharing with an intense eighteen days of prompts starting December … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Author’s Notebook | The Book of Jeremiah by Julie ZuckermanZuckerman, Julie. The Book of Jeremiah: A Novel in Stories. Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2019. 190 pp., $17.95. The Whole Megillah (TWM): What motivated this collection of linked short stories? Julie Zuckerman (JZ): The Book of Jeremiah started with one … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: Some writer pals and I agreed today to meet up every August to write together at a retreat starting in 2020. Does anyone else do something like this? I’ll be taking a beginning Yiddish class this fall … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: I wrote with an AWA group on Saturday and came up with two new poems for my YA work in progress. There is an opening in the next cycle of The Whole Megillah Online Fiction Workshop. The … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Author’s Notebook | Rachel’s Roses by Ferida WolffFerida Wolff, Rachel’s Roses, illustrated by Margeaux Lucas. New York: Holiday House, Available August 20, 2019. 112 pages. The Whole Megillah (TWM): What motivated you to write Rachel’s Roses? Ferida Wolff (FW): I was telling a friend about how my … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: Word to the Wise: Beware of one-person publishing houses. ‘Nuff said. I’m trying to figure out the marketability of a YA novel I bill as “Pride & Prejudice Meets the Shtetl.” Your thoughts? The year is 1913. … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: I didn’t expect to write poetry during my PhD class this week, but I am! It’s kind of ekphrastic based on sculpture, painting, photography as well as on music, particularly the sound of the oboe. I may … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: I’ve hired a Jewish life expert in Poland to vet my novel under contract. On Brevity’s blog today, I read about DIY retreats. I’ve been doing this for years. At first, I booked myself into bed & … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: I am thinking about iconography in children’s Holocaust literature. What are the typical symbols? I’ve also been thinking about children’s books about other genocides. There seems to be relatively few. Do any come to mind for you? … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week NotesThree quick things: Even while traveling and participating in fellowships, I am continuing to write poetry, one poem at a time. This is part of a new contemporary YA work in progress. At some point, I really need to focus … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week Notes
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Ideas Can Come from Anywhere–Even Jane Yolen
The first-ever Highlights Foundation workshop for writers of Jewish-themed children’s books took place at the founders’ home in Boyds Mills, PA from May 23-25. Throughout the following weeks, I’ll be sharing some highlights (no pun intended) of what the speakers … Continue reading
Tagged Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Calkins Creek Books, Carolyn Yoder, Debra Hess, Devorah Leah Rosenfeld, East/West Agency, Francoise Bui, Hachai Publishing, Highlights for Children, Highlights Foundation, Highlights Foundation Worksop, Jane Yolen, Jewish Book World, Lisa Silverman, Mary Kole, Penninah Schram, Rubin Pfeffer
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Author’s Notebook | Rich Michelson
Each month, The Whole Megillah features an interview with an author of Jewish-themed children’s books. For May 2010’s Author’s Notebook debut, we reached out to award-winning author Rich Michelson of Massachusetts. The Whole Megillah (TWM): When did you first realize … Continue reading
Jewish American Heritage Month and the Sydney Taylor Book Award
On May 7, Kathe Pinchuck, Outgoing Chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee posted in the AJL Blog, People of the Books, a list of Sydney Taylor Book Awards winners, celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month. I urge you to … Continue reading
Museum of Jewish Heritage | A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
It seemed fitting that I would head into New York City today to research the St. Louis on the 71st anniversary of its sailing. After spending a couple of hours at the Joint Distribution Committee archives midtown, I traveled to … Continue reading
Book Review: Emma’s Poem–The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) Written by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Claire A. Nivola I must confess: I’ve been researching Emma Lazarus for about ten years. Since the Statue of Liberty’s 100th anniversary … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Emma Lazarus, New Colossus, nineteenth century Jewish writers, Statue of Liberty
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This Month in Jewish History—The Tragic Voyage of the St. Louis
On May 13, 1939, more than 900 German Jewish refugees boarded the luxury liner MS St. Louis in Hamburg. They were filled with hope of a new homeland, rejected by Germany. Since Kristallnacht the previous November, and even before that, … Continue reading
