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DN Writes: Meet the Authors of Congregation Darchei Noam

28/10/2015 03:14:18 PM

Oct28

Maybe it’s not surprising that a dynamic congregation such as Darchei Noam would have so many writers as members. The shul will be showcasing some of those authors’ accomplishments on November 1 at 7 p.m. in the Social Hall.

Fredelle Brief will be the MC and authors Marsha Barber, Gail Benick, Susan Glickman, Sylvia Izzo Hunter and Renate Krakauer will be featured. Genres range from a literary murder mystery to a historical fantasy to award-winning poetry, with a Jewish-themed novella and novel in between.

In Safe as Houses (Cormorant Books), acclaimed writer Susan Glickman explores her own Toronto neighbourhood, imagining how a confrontation with murder might peel away its veneer of security and civility. She also shows, through her warm, witty, and wise depiction of everyday life, what is worth saving. A reviewer notes that “one of the most delicious parts of the book is the setting: a bookshop owned by Glickman’s protagonist, Liz Ryerson, near Bathurst and St. Clair in downtown Toronto.”

Themes in Marsha Barber’s poetry book All the Lovely Broken People (Borealis Press) range from deeply personal childhood and parenthood poems, to reflections on the broader world. One reviewer has written, “Every once in a while a reader meets a book that is just exactly the right blend of sorrow and joy, of grief and whimsy, of lamentation and celebration, so much so that one might call the writing wise.” 

Gail Benick’s debut novella The Girl Who Was Born That Way (Inanna Publications) is the story of the Berk family, not exactly an ordinary Jewish family, trying to bury its Holocaust past while starting over in post-war USA. The novel centers on the family’s four daughters, the two oldest girls who grew up in the Lodz Ghetto and the two youngest who came of age in an idyllic American suburb.

 

Renate Krakauer’s literary fiction Only by Blood (Inanna Publications) is a novel about the search for roots, mother-daughter love, and family reconciliation. Set in the broader context of the fraught relationship of Poles and Jews during and after the Second World War, it depicts the circumstances that made some ordinary people behave heroically while others betrayed their friends and neighbours.

And Sylvia Izzo Hunter’s Lady of Magick (Penguin Random House) is a historical fantasy that delves into history, magic and myth, of which one reviewer said: “Fans of fantasy need look no further than Sylvia Izzo Hunter's Lady of Magick for an entertaining read full of royal intrigue, daringly disobedient young ladies, and regional politics.” The book is part of Sylvia’s popular Noctis Magicae series.

DN’s Adult Education Committee and Membership Committee have made this event possible. Meet the authors, ask questions and eat cookies at DN Writes on November 1.

Thu, 28 March 2024 18 Adar II 5784