Browsing CategoryReadings

Reading, teaching, and bragging about my amazing students

On November 12th I’ll be reading at the U of T’s Reading Series, The Platform, with some of my creative non-fiction students at the U of T School of Continuing Studies. They are a wonderful, talented group: Lina Barkas, Maisie Jacobson, Laura Sky, Tamara Jong, and Leonarda Carranza. Hopefully some of my other students will take advantage of the open mic portion of the night too. The reading will take place at The Social Capital Theatre in Toronto, 154 Danforth Ave – Second Floor,  at 7:30pm.  I have hosted a reading of my students before but this would be my first time…

Fall Recap

This has been the nicest, warmest fall I’ve yet to experienced in Ontario (and perhaps in my entire time Canada!) The weather has been warm and beautiful and though climate change is probably to blame I guiltily love every minute of it.  I actually enjoy fall in Toronto, even if it’s a gateway season to the horror that is winter (yes, I said horror and I stand behind it). It’s been five years since I moved here, and still, every year I am in awe of the changing fall colours, the vibrancy of the yellows and reds. They make the…

Writer in Residence, New York, Podcast, Interviews, Readings…

It’s a busy busy time. Sean went to work full time, which means I have to juggle momming and writing and teaching and promoting. It’s been crazy. So here’s a quick recap of some new and exciting things that are happening. I am now (and for the next three weeks) the writer in residence at Crescent School in Toronto, working with high school students on their independent study projects for their Writers’ Craft class. The students are wonderful, and I have a little office with some view where I write with no interruptions. It’s pretty great. My event at the…

Event in New York City

I am thrilled to be doing an event in New York City next week, on April 1st. The New America Foundation (“a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States”) invited me to talk about The Best Place on Earth, Mizrahi identity and Israeli contemporary literature at their snazzy Soho location. I get to talk with two fiercely intelligent women, internationally-published and acclaimed journalist Lisa Goldman who is the New America’s Israel-Palestine Initiative director (and whose blog I used to follow when she was a Canadian living…

The Best Place on Earth is One Year Old!

How could it have been a year already? The Best Place on Earth is one year old today! I remember that this day last year was just as gloomy and miserable as today is. I remember feeling anxious and a little bit crazy and not as joyous as I had wanted to feel (that elated feeling came the following day, at my launch, which was hands down the best party I ever had) I remember that that morning I struggled to zip up my parka, which was starting to feel pretty tight on my hugely pregnant belly. I also remember…

Pictures from my Events in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa

Only a month (and a week) late! I finally got around to go through some of the photos from my events with the New Israel Fund of Canada in February. It was a pleasure to tour with the NIFCAN, and to speak in those different cities. The event in Toronto was at the Gladstone Hotel, and I was interviewed by Gabe Gonda of the Globe and Mail who asked some tough questions, including one that started with, “So there’s a lot of sex in the book,” (to which I replied with, “Yes. Yes, there is.”)  It was a great evening.…

Mini-Tour in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and Other News

Exciting news! I’m going on another mini-tour on the first week of February. I will be reading from The Best Place on Earth and speaking about my experience as an Israeli of Yemeni descent and about writing Mizrahi stories. There will also be some time for a Q & A and books for sale. Oh, and did I mention that it will take place in licensed venues? So you can have a glass of wine and a snack with it? The event is called “Say it Again, Say Something else,” after one of the stories in the book. New Israel…

My West Coast Mini Book Tour

I’m thrilled to be heading to Vancouver and Victoria for a mini-book tour in a few days. Vancouver is one of my homes (I’ve written about it here). I lived there for eleven years and I still miss it. When I got my book deal I promised my friends in the city that I’d fly there to launch my book after I do my Toronto Launch. But then I ended up having a baby instead. The Best Place on Earth is now six months old, a little old for a launch, but I still wanted to celebrate it with my…

Reviews, Interviews and Events (and Why I Love Book Bloggers)

Tickets for the Vancouver International Writers Festival have gone on sale today, and apparently some events are already sold out! Here are the links to my two events, Faces in the Conflict, with  Nadeem Aslam, Michael Winter, and D.W. Wilson (buy it here) and Out of Place, with  Xiaolu Guo and Silvia Moreno-Garcia (buy it here). More about how to buy tickets here. And here is a short video about the festival, just because.   ****  The Victoria Writers’ Festival has also started their ticket sale. I’m participating in two events; the first one is Love Familiar, readings and panel discussion with Dede Crane, Matt Rader, and Shaena Lambert.…

The Best Place on Earth is Going Places: Fall Events

I love summer. It is my favourite season. In my early twenties I chased sunshine and managed to live in perpetual summer for four years. I spent much of that time on beaches, dressed in sarongs and bikini tops, shells braided into my hair, swinging on hammocks and sleeping in huts on the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Med. I arrived in Vancouver at the end of this four-year stretch, on the first day of summer of all days. I brought with me a suitcase overflowing with tie-dye tank tops, flimsy halter tops, and summer dresses…