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Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
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Three quick things:

1. Busy writing up a talk that I’ll be presenting at a conference next week.

2. The latest addition to my “brief book reviews” is a timely read just ahead of the Veterans Day holiday: FIRE AND FORGET: SHORT STORIES FROM THE LONG WAR edited by Roy Scranton and Matt Gallagher (Da Capo Press).

3.It’s not every day that I share billing with Randy Rainbow! My thanks to Donna Kaz, this month’s AWP “In the Spotlight” writer, for the generous shoutout.

Question and answer from the piece linked just above.

From My Bookshelf: Yossi Klein Halevi’s LETTERS TO MY PALESTINIAN NEIGHBOR

by Erika Dreifus on
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Yossi Klein Halevi’s new book (to be published May 15 by HarperCollins) is ostensibly addressed to a Palestinian reader. To that end, in an opening Note, the author mentions that the book is being made available in Arabic translation for free downloading (at a link not yet available in my electronic advance copy). Moreover, he invites Palestinians, and others from the Arab and Muslim worlds, to write to him  (at that link) “in response to any issue raised in this book. I will try to respond to every letter, no matter how challenging, that is written in a spirit of engagement. My intention is to initiate a public conversation on our shared future in the Middle East.”

Who knows, yet, where that invitation will lead? Who knows how many Palestinian neighbors the author will reach? I can’t help thinking that there is an expanded audience for this book, and that audience includes anyone who really wishes to try to understand “the Jewish story and the significance of Israel in Jewish identity”—while remaining open to and aware of the “neighbor’s” narrative and beliefs. (more…)