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Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Spotlight on Elizabeth Nunez

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

This past week I had the privilege of reading Elizabeth Nunez’s latest book, a memoir titled Not for Everyday Use (Akashic Books). I obtained a digital galley with the intention of asking Elizabeth–whom I’ve been lucky to get to know through my “day job” at The City University of New York–if she’d be willing to answer a few questions for The Practicing Writer.

I finished this excellent book quickly, and the ever-gracious Elizabeth agreed to answer my questions (in fact, she has already returned her responses!). I had to tell her, though, that the newsletter interviewees are booked (so to speak), for the next several months. This interview won’t appear until the August issue, which will go out to readers at the very end of July. (In the interest of keeping things somewhat suspenseful, I won’t reveal the identities of every interviewee between now and then, but I’ll tell you that our very next issue will feature Roxane Gay, who will tell us about her soon-to-be-published novel An Untamed State.)

Meantime, I encourage you to watch this video of Elizabeth’s recent appearance at the Center for Fiction (although this latest book is nonfiction, Elizabeth is an acclaimed novelist). You’ll get to hear her read from the memoir, and listen to her conversation with Louise DeSalvo (who offers terrific questions and comments in a discussion that encompasses race, religion, writing and more). An hour well spent.

From My Bookshelf: Molly Antopol’s “The UnAmericans” (and an Interview with the Author)

by Erika Dreifus on
3

UnAmericansEarlier this year, I published an article listing five “Jewish books” scheduled for publication in 2014 that I was already especially eager to read. Molly Antopol‘s  The UnAmericans was one of those titles. As I wrote at the time: “I’m not the only one with high expectations for this debut collection of short stories. Anointed by the National Book Foundation as one of its ‘5 Under 35’ honorees, Antopol and her book (which W.W. Norton will release in February) have received plenty of pre-publication buzz. “My stories move from McCarthy-era Los Angeles to modern-day Jerusalem to communist Prague,” Antopol has said in an interview, adding that many of the stories were inspired by her family history.

Well, I purchased a copy for my Kindle and began reading. And I was just as impressed as I expected to be. Molly and I connected online, and I asked her if she’d be willing to answer a few questions for My Machberet. (more…)

Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: While I Was Away

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

So, this past week I spent a few days in glorious, warm Turks & Caicos.

Turks & Caicos

Anyone who travels with young children–especially young children who don’t exactly embrace hotel “kiddie programs” or day camps–knows that these trips aren’t always 100 percent vacations. But we all had a wonderful time. AND I managed to squeeze in a fair amount of reading. Including:

  • The Paris Review‘s spring 2014 issue. I especially enjoyed the interviews with Adam Phillips and Matthew Weiner.
  • Creative Nonfiction‘s spring 2014 issue, with a standout piece by Wendy Rawlings.
  • The forthcoming translation (by Jeffrey M. Green) of Aharon Appelfeld’s Suddenly, Love (Schocken Books). (Actually, this was my second reading of the galley, in preparation for a review that I’m working on this week.)
  • A digital ARC of Nora Gold’s novel Fields of Exile (Dundurn), coming in May. You’ll be hearing more about this novel–which is being described as the first novel “about” anti-Israelism in contemporary academe–in the not-so-distant future, too. (For starters, I’m planning to run a Q&A with Nora at some point on My Machberet.)

    • I hope that you’ve all had a good week, too!