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Registration is open for my Prepare to Publish Zoom course

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 Email me for details!

Welcome to the June Jewish Book Carnival

Jewish Book Carnival

 I'm so pleased to host this month's Jewish Book Carnival. I find this graphic of Jewish book covers an ideal visual to accompany this must-review list of Jewish author interviews and news. Thank you Jewish Book World for putting it together! The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jew...

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Author Interview: Tommy Schnurmacher

Makeup-Tips

One of the nicest things about participating in the Vancouver Jewish Book Festival (February 2020) was meeting other authors. One of the  authors I enjoyed meeting was Tommy Schnurmacher, a fellow Canadian and multi-talented author. Please welcome Tommy to gilagreenwrites! Tommy, thanks so much for joining me.  BIOTommy Schnurmacher is a ...

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Writing Lies and Other Truths: AutoFiction

autofiction-Ashdod-beach

By Gila Green We live in a publishing world that not only craves categories; it demands them. These pigeonholes are like gasoline for the modern manuscript, which cannot even move through cyberspace to an agent's inbox without the fuel labeling supplies. For those who guide writers on query letters, one of our first lessons is to help authors defin...

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REPOST: No pubs, no kissing, no flying: how Covid-19 is forcing authors to change their novels

REPOST-5

 Fascinating article by Alison Flood of the Guardian. I've been wondering about the future of literature in light of Covid-19. There's a number of answers and approaches here, everything from stick to 2018 to jump to the future, but should you write one with or without a vaccine? This article explores various answers we are all struggling with...

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Forget the Rules! Take a Flash Fiction Break

BREAK-TIME

  By Gila Green When I tell people I teach a virtual flash fiction course, I often get strange responses bordering on laughter. Isn't flash fiction just really short fiction? What's the point of taking a specific Flash class? No, flash is its own genre deserving of its own class and in my opinion, it's still underrated as a way to break into p...

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Registration is on! Prepare to Publish

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 Prepare to Publish: the business of publication, a hands-on workshop for writers with complete or near-complete manuscripts ready for publication. Monday & Wednesday options starts last week of June Many authors invest all of their energy into their works and are so pre-occupied with writing and editing that by the time it comes to p...

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You're Invited: Two New Exciting New Zoom Classes

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AUTOFICTION WORKSHOP: Exploring Hybrid Writing by Gila Green START DATE: Sunday, July 5, 2020 END DATE: Sunday, August 16, 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 weave elements of tw...

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Thanks Jewish Book World

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I'm thrilled my young adult environmental novel No Entry was included in the 68 books posted on JewishBookWorld.org in April 2020.  

More author interviews coming up

OMG

I have some great authors on the way to visit gilagreenwrites. Check back for interviews with more talented creatives including: Rajani LaRocca, popular children's author of award-winning books, memoirist Alia Volz, poet Susie Berg, debut author Shana Riter, YA author Liza Wiemer, and many more. I try to bring you a variety of author...

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Publicity time: FREE Radio opportunity for authors

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Fellow Authors: I was interviewed last night on Chat and Spin Radio via Skype and it was fun. These are short audio interviews (the Skype is just for you to see them, the audience cannot see you, so sorry, no full pajamas, but you can do pajama bottoms.) Chat and Spin are a nonprofit and they tell me their station has ...

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Write to be Heard

Write to be Heard

by Gila Green 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 mentally glide over to the 1980s version of the city, pecking at bits and inserting them into my fiction, squirreling away savory pieces for later use, because I don't know any other writing...

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Thank you Voiceless: the animal protection institute

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No Entry received a great recommendation and review from Australia's Voiceless: The animal protection Institute. It's an honor to be mentioned by such a relevant and crucial organization working tirelessly to save the planet.  No Entry by Gila Green  We adored the novel's setting as we're transported into a remote wildlife rescue centre i...

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Listen & a Chance to Win

chat-radio

 I'll be chatting about my novels in two hours (10 pm. Israel time) on www.chatandspinradio.com Like their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/chatandspin where you can win a £20 shopping voucher

Pushcarts, Whitewash, and Ballet Shoes: What Social Historians Can Learn from Children’s Literature

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by Melissa Klapper As a university history professor, I am often asked by my students how I first became interested in the study of the past.My answer is simple:reading.I was a voracious reader from a very young age and grew up in a home overflowing with books.And my very favorites, first as a child and then as a teenager, were books that brought h...

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WATCH: Book Chat and Reading with Hidden Timber

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I had a lovely chat with small press publisher Christi Craig of Hidden Timber Books yesterday.  We talked a lot about the devastation of elephant poaching for all of us and why it was so important to me to get that message out there, how ironic it is that perhaps in today's Covid-19 world we can really understand how connected w...

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Seven Read-Aloud Tips

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Thanks to Chrissey Harrison for mentioning my suggestion to film an author read-aloud in her excellent post. Here she offers ten ways to promote your book and I have to agree with her number one suggestion, which is to write another book. Another book is your best marketing tool and you're a content creator after all. Check out the rest o...

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8 Ways to Beat the Clock

Beat the Clock

By Gila Green The secret of getting ahead is getting started—Mark Twain Three deadlines coming up, dinner's not made, and you haven't even hit the grocery store yet? The short answer might be fast food or begging a colleague to take one of your assignments, but the long-term answer is to improve your efficiency. Here are eight tips to help you save...

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Does Your Story Have a Case of Runaway Pace?

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This indirect or left-branching sentence builds tension and creates excitement because it slows down the pace of the story. by Gila Green Have you ever seen any of these comments in the margins of your work? Slow downUnevenLacks climaxFlat If you answered "yes," you should immediately browse through your writer's toolbox of literary devices for pac...

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Five Ways Living in One Language Fingerprints your Writing in Another

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Are your notions about your birthplace outdated? By Gila Green Diction. Slang and other everyday words sneak into our vocabularies. If you don't live and write in the same language, it takes an extra effort to root foreign words out of your work, unless they're part of your story.Names. Many writers spend a great deal of time enhancing their work w...

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Description Might be Draining your Writing

Writing Tip

What you need to work on in your writing isn't description it's imagery.  By Gila Green If you write fiction you've probably been told dozens of times to include vivid description, work on your description, and not to forget description. Likely, you've also been reminded not to overdo it on the description. Unfortunately, being told to in...

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Writing Lies and Other Truths

autofiction

By Gila Green We live in a publishing world that not only craves categories; it demands them. These pigeonholes are like gasoline for the modern manuscript, which cannot even move through cyberspace to an agent's inbox without the fuel labeling supplies. For those who guide writers on query letters, one of our first lessons is to help authors defin...

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Small Press Author Reading Series: Join me May 17, 2020

Hidden-Timber-Books

 Join me on on May 17, 2020! Register for FREE for the small press author reading series. "In light of so many cancelled book tours as of late, Hidden Timber Books is hosting other small press authors via Zoom for readings. These events are FREE, all you need to do is register for the link to join. Attend one, attend them all, and spread the w...

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I'm in Ravishly

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 Thank you so much to Erin Khar for featuring my young adult, environmental novel No Entry in the latest issue of Ravishly.

Repost: The Book of Life

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For the last month, Heidi Rabinowitz's The Book of Podcast has had a special series called "Books in the Time of Coronavirus." Authors whose spring 2020 promotional events were cancelled were able to tell the world about their new Jewish books. I wish to thank Heidi once again for including No Entry and to repost her entire series here. E...

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Author Interview: Dani Alpert

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"There wasn't ever a time that I didn't want a career in showbusiness. I spent years wearing blinders, forbidding myself from thinking outside of the box." I'm excited to share with you my interview with Dani Alpert, an author and Pilates enthusiast, who is new to me and who I've only met virtually. I'm so pleased she reached out to share her ...

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Repost: Canadian Writers Abroad: Where are they now?

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Reposting from Canadian Writers Abroad by Debra Martens  Back in March when Canadian travellers were urged to come home, I thought of the small community of Canadian writers living abroad. Would they stay or go? As Antony Millen in New Zealand puts it, "It was a very eerie feeling to hear Justin call Canadians home with such urgency. I admit, ...

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Author Interview: Mel Rosenberg

Mel Rosenberg

I'm happy to share my newest author interview with you today. If you can believe it, Mel Rosenberg is originally from my hometown of Ottawa and I met him only this year but that's not the amazing part. It turns out that Mel's mother was my kindergarten teacher way back in the Old Days. How is that for small world? Indeed, one of my earliest me...

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I voted in the Crystal Kite awards

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 Don't forget to vote for your favorite in the Crystal Kite Awards! These are so many wonderful works to choose from.  "The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award to recognize great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world." If you're eligible to vote, don't forget to do so, especially at this time when so man...

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April Jewish Carnival is Up and Happy Mimouna

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Today I want to wish a Happy Mimouna to those who celebrate! Though it was not the same as in past years, we still managed to celebrate a lockdown mimouna complete with homemade couscous, muflettot and Moroccan outfits straight from Morocco.  And thanks to Deborah Kalb for hosting the April Jewish Carnival:  At this difficu...

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Latest Books

No Entry

No Entry

In No Entry, Canadian teenager, Yael Amar, signs on to an elephant conservation program and ends up coming face to face with violence, greed, and murder and the taste of a very real danger for all of us: elephant extinction.

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White Zion

White Zion

White Zion is a novel in stories forthcoming from Cervena Barva Press (April 2019). The novel takes readers into the worlds of 19th century Yemen, pre-State Israel, modern Israel and modern Canada...

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Passport Control

Passport Control

Miriam Gil knows little about Israel. Her father won’t talk about his life there or the brother he left behind when he came to Canada. Hurt and angry when he tells her to move out to make room for his new girlfriend, she enrolls in an Israeli university. She falls in love with Guy... 

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King of the Class

King of the Class

Eve and Manny are engaged in post-civil war Israel, but Manny has a secret: he’s falling in love with his religious roots and turning his back on moral relativism. As their wedding date approaches...

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Forthcoming Books

With a Good Eye <br>Release Date: Aug. 18, 2024

With a Good Eye
Release Date: Aug. 18, 2024

This family drama is part crime fiction and part domestic noir. With A Good Eye will make you question: can you ever save anyone but yourself and do any of us ever really leave home?

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The Inheritance  <br>Release Date: 2025

The Inheritance
Release Date: 2025

This suspense/thriller asks, if you were to walk away from your family, would you ever go back, even if you received a desperate text message?

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