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: August 2010
Author’s Notebook | Eli Stutz
This is Part Two of an Agent/Author interview. Last week, The Whole Megillah featured agent Elana Roth of the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. Today, we feature her client, Eli Stutz, author of Pickle Impossible (Bloomsbury USA, 2010). The Whole Megillah … Continue reading
Agent’s Notebook | Elana Roth, Caren Johnson Literary Agency
This is Part One of an Agent/Author interview. Elana is Part One and her client, Eli Stutz, author of Pickle Impossible (Bloomsbury USA, 2010), is Part Two and an upcoming Author’s Notebook feature. Elana Roth is a literary agent with … Continue reading
Posted in Agents
Tagged Caren Johnson Literary Agency, children's book agents, Elana Roth, Eli Stutz, Pickle Impossible
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Librarian’s Notebook | Linda R. Silver
For August 2010, The Whole Megillah Librarian’s Notebook features an interview with Linda R. Silver. Linda is a librarian and a specialist in Jewish children’s literature. She has written two books on the subject as well as speaking, teaching, and … Continue reading
The Whole Megillah Mourns
My brother-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack Tuesday evening. He was only 56. Because we are now in mourning and because I’ll be on retreat, The Whole Megillah is taking a break and will resume with librarian, agent, and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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A History of Jewish Children’s Books—Part Three
Adapted from a talk given by Lisa Silverman, Library Director of Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, May 23, 2010 at the Highlights Founders Workshop, “Writing Jewish-themed Children’s Books” Genres of Jewish Children’s Literature—Realism in Jewish Family Life The first book in … Continue reading
Tagged Are You There God, Bette Greene, Confessions of a Closet Catholic, Deborah Garfinkle, Highlights Foundation, How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, Judy Blume, Lisa Silverman, Our Eddie, realism in Jewish family life, Sarah Darer Littman, Simone Elkeles, Storky, Sulamith Ish Kishor, Summer of My German Soldier, Writing Jewish-themed Children's Books
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Book Review: Once
Once Written by Morris Gleitzman (Henry Holt and Company, 2010–previously published in Australia) In the author’s note, Morris Gleitzman said he had read a book about Janusz Korczak, a Polish Jewish doctor and children’s author, who helped run an orphanage … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Holocaust literature, Janusz Korczak, Morris Gleitzman, Once
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The Whole Megillah Grows
Thanks to everyone–Jewish children’s book writers, librarians, editors, agents, and publicists–who have helped make The Whole Megillah a success. Given the great response, I’ve been thinking of expanding The Whole Megillah to offer: Workshops and retreats–I’m exploring a four-day workshop/retreat … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Jewish children's books, National Yiddish Book Center, The Whole Megillah
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