Browsing CategoryMy mother

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…

‘Yemeni Soup’ Wins a Western Magazine Award

Late last night, as I woke up to breastfeed, I found out that ‘Yemeni Soup and Other Recipes‘ won gold at the Western Magazine Awards! (The gala was too late for me to follow on Twitter, because of the time difference with Vancouver.) The piece (originally published at Grain Magazine) just won silver at the National Magazine Awards last week. I am shocked and delighted! Now I have to call my mother (whom the piece is about) and inform her of this new development… In other news, I had a great time at the Literary Picnic, a part of the Luminato…

On Writing about My Mother and Winning a National Magazine Award

On Friday night, the night of the National Magazine Awards gala in Toronto, I was sitting at home in my PJ’s following the Twitter feed, waiting to hear if the piece I wrote about my mother, ‘Yemeni Soup and Other Recipes,’ won in the One of a Kind category. It was past my bedtime, because now that I’m a mother I can’t waste precious sleeping hours when my baby is sleeping. I kept refreshing the feed, looked at photos that other people tweeted showing beautiful people in glamorous outfits, read their tweets about a chocolate fountain, and imagined how much…

‘Yemeni Soup’ Nominated for a National Magazine Award and a Western Magazine Award!

I was thrilled to find out last week that Yemeni Soup and Other Recipes, a nonfiction piece about my mom, me, and food, was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the One of A kind Category. A few of my mentors and peers are nominated in different categories as well so I’m in great company.  The piece was published in Grain Magazine last summer. Winners will be announced in their gala on June 7th, 2013. Then, the following day – another pleasant surprise! The piece was also nominated for a Western Magazine Award. The winners will be announced in Vancouver on…