Thank you to The Sami Rohr Prize Guest Forum for hosting the October Jewish Book Carnival! The Sami Rohr Prize Guest Forum is delighted to host the October 2020 Jewish Book Carnival. This monthly event, organized by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), allows those of us who cover the world of Jewish books online to "meet, read, and comment o...

by Susie Berg It is both a blessing and a curse of being a writer that most of us are also readers. The blessing is pretty clear: books! Covid lockdown? Bring on the "to be read" pile. Put every book I ever wanted to read on hold as an e-book at the library. Buy books to support independent booksellers and authors whose voices shout with both anger...

As I've shared with you before, this summer I taught my first zoom autofiction course. This meant I spent a couple of months perusing everything I could find about autofiction and I'm sure I barely scratched the surface. I loved the course and it was so much fun for all of us, several participants requested a part two.  As such, I'm still look...

Back in March 2020, I had the privilege of participating in an SCBWI webinar with amazing authors Rajani LaRocca and Erica S. Perl.   Naturally, I could not let such an opportunity go to waste and immediately invited both Erica and Rajani to gilagreenwrites. Both readily agreed and generously shared their time, but Rajani h...

In 2013, I published a short story titled Mother, Daughter, Mercenary in an international crime fiction magazine titled Noir Nation.  I always wanted to go back to that story and I expanded on it in another short story titled Cutty Sark, published in 2018 in Writer's Bone in their December issue. Though at first glance these two...

 In the last two weeks, we at NLA have offered representation to seven authors, most of whom received multiple offers. All agents are aggressively seeking new talent right now! It's awesome to talk to savvy authors who have a list of good questions prepared for their initial conversations with prospective agents, questions like:

I loved this July 28th article by Kate Reed Petty on Electric Literature and I agree, it's time to rethink how authors interact with readers online.  Before the stay-at-home orders came down in Baltimore, the last thing I did in person was participate in a panel conversation about—ironically—"art and the apocalypse." In retrospect, we should h...

Please welcome author Meryl Ain to gilagreenwrites. Today Meryl discusses the title of her new novel and the layers of meaning she continues to discover behind it.  By Meryl Ain One of the most frequently recurring questions I'm asked about my debut novel is: "What is the meaning of the title, The Takeaway Men, and why did you choose it?" No, ...

I'm delighted today to share with you a guest blog post from Montreal paranormal author Philip Mann who discusses what we choose to write about and Jewish genre fiction. Welcome Philip Mann to gilagreenwrites! One of the main features writers have in common is fear. Fear of expressing ourselves in public, fear of not doing it right, and especi...

Today's guest post is from author Shana Ritter. I'm honored to have her visit me here on gilagreenwrites. Today Shana shares her thoughts on writing during Covid-19. I'm sure so many of us can relate to her words.  Welcome, Shana Ritter! One window in my study faces south towards a wide stretch of yard disappearing into trees, the other looks ...

The February 2020  Vancouver Jewish Book Festival seems like it took place in another world. In a way, it did. Still, I flew from Israel to Germany to Vancouver and then back to Tel Aviv via Toronto as hard as that is to imagine today. On the way I met so many creatives, authors, and many readers at a variety of book talks.  I d...

I had a great time participating in the author Bad Mouth Reading Series. Thanks so much for inviting me to participate.  In this video I talk about why I wrote a South African-based novel, why I wrote No Entry, why it's important to write about elephant extinction for the young adult market and, of course, I read from the enviro...

 Guest post from Desiree Villena The first half of 2020 has wrought havoc on all our lives, writers and non-writers alike — but for professional authors in particular, the chaos and uncertainty of the past few months have been incredibly daunting. Book launches have been delayed, releases that forged ahead have gone unnoticed, and for some aut...

Thank you so much to Melissa Schack for interviewing me in the recent edition of Quail Bell Magazine.   MS: How have the Australian wildfires affected your work? GG: First, thanks so much for having me on your forum. I am delighted to have the opportunity and appreciate your time. The Australian fires burned my publisher to the groun...

I had a great time on Friday moderating a panel livestreamed from the UK's YA Thriller Conference. The topic was Diversity in YA Fiction. Shout-out to author Madeline Dyer for putting it all together and to my YA colleagues, authors: Fran Dorricott (UK), Nia Davenport (USA), and Isvari Mohan (USA).  What did we discuss? -What is 'diversity'? W...

A common complaint of writers is a lack of reviews. But help is out there. If you're an author looking for a book review, I recommend a program created by author Sandra Lopez.  On the flip-side, who ever has enough books to read? For book lovers, who cannot seem to get enough, read on to find out how you can read books at no cost and...

 When I wrote my YA eco-fiction novel No Entry, I had one goal in mind: to highlight the dangers of elephant poaching and extinction for a young adult audience. I also wanted to connect the people who commit these heinous acts toward elephants with other international crimes: human trafficking, the illegal weapons trade and so on. I ...

There are so many talented authors on the way including children's authors, poets, fiction and nonfiction creatives. Don't miss an author interview or blog post. Meryl Ain, author of the Takeaway Men, SparkPress.   Rajani LaRocca, author of the forthcoming novels Red, White, and Whole (Quill Tree/HarperCollins, 2021) and Much Ado Abo...

AUTOFICTION WORKSHOP: Exploring Hybrid Writing  START DATE: Sunday, August 16, 2020 END DATE: Sunday,  September 13, 2020 DURATION: 6 weeks LOCATION: Zoom and email for assignments FEEDBACK: Instructor feedback and critique COURSE DESCRIPTION: What is autofiction? It's not memoir, fiction or personal essay, but might have elements of...

 I'm so excited to be part of this YA Thriller conference next week with 24 other YA writers from all over the world.  All video events will be broadcast live to YouTube.  From the newly launched site:  "About YA Thriller ConYA Thriller Con Online is a two-day event, running from July 10th to July 11th 2020, to celebrate and tal...

by Jodé Millman I try to keep up on publishing contract news even though I've reviewed eight contracts at length (no, I didn't sign them all and you probably shouldn't either). But all of my reviewing happened before Covid-19. It's important that writers focus on the business end of writing, not just on craft. Originally in this month's column, I h...

I want to tell you about this new Jewish tabletop roleplaying  (TTRPG) anthology that I was recently honored to join. My essay is part of the forward and was written to expand the work to include more Sephardi (in my case, Yemenite) voices. I was able to draw on both my Ashkenazi and Yemenite experience and I'm delighted to integrate my w...

 Today on gilagreenwrites, I'm delighted to welcome children's author Dr. Lea Kirshenberg. It's always a pleasure to meet writers and I hope these interviews inspire you and expand your definition of genres, languages, and other possibilities. For this author expanding her possibilities doesn't only mean considering another age group or g...

Why do you think this book is set in the future? What was the author trying to achieve by doing so? Do you think there are good and bad characters in this book? If so, is Eve good or bad? What about her husband Manny? Do you think Eve has a good relationship with her sister? What was your opinion of their relationship once Eve's son is kidnapped? S...

Book Club Discussion Questions for Passport Control  1. Why do you think the title of this book is Passport Control? Would you have chosen a different title? One publisher suggested the title of No Way Home. Do you think that title is preferable? 2. Would you say Passport Control is historical fiction? A coming of age story? An adventure story...

Book Club Discussion Questions for White Zion 1. Why do you think the author chose the title White Zion? What does it signify to you? Would you have chosen a different title? 2. Who is the hero/heroine of this novel-in-stories? What makes a hero or heroine? 3. Do you think the author chose the right format for this work? In other words, do you thin...

Book Club Guide for No Entry 1.What is the significance of the title No Entry? Would you have given the book a different title? If yes, what is your title? 2.Yael Amar finds herself in extraordinary circumstances in No Entry once she realizes the identity of the poachers. Do you empathize with her? Are any of her circumstances familiar to you? 3.Ho...

 I'm honored to take part in a birthday! Happy 15th birthday to Cervena Barva Press. To celebrate I'll be reading from my novel-in-stories White Zion and I won't be alone. My friend and colleague, poet and playwright Atar Hadari will be joining me from the UK. He'll be reading from his translation of Hanoch Levin's work. A treat! When? July 5&...

Authors will have to be very creative in future about book sales.  By: Sue Carter June 22nd, 2020  Just days before Indigo Books & Music releases its fourth-quarter financial results, CEO Heather Reisman told Bloomberg News in an interview that "the depths of the losses we are looking at are literally as seismic as this COVID event is...

Thank you so much to Christi Craig who hosted me on her Sunday Series. From her site: In this Sunday Series, you'll meet writers new and seasoned as they share what inspires them to put #PenToPaper. I have never attended a Canadian creative writing program, so I cannot say with certainty that my distance from Ottawa, my hometown, allows me to ...