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Cover girl and other news

Cover girl!

So, today I went to pick up the mail and was startled by the magazine I was holding, Jewish Book World, which had my face staring right back at me. And it’s big. Unphotoshoped, fucked-up tooth and frizzy hair big. Inside, there’s a lovely review of my book, a write-up about the award and my essay, “Keeping Promises.” *** More news. I wrote something in HEBREW!!! I know. It’s been so long that I was saddened to discover that I’ve now reversed my sense of insecurity to my mother tongue! It wasn’t easy to write this piece. My words felt…

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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…

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Glowing Review in The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin

A wonderful, well-written review of The Best Place on Earth appeared in The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. Reviewer Mira Sucharov calls the book  “Smart, sexy and absorbing.” Sucahrov also says, “I didn’t want to put down The Best Place on Earth… but I frequently did. I wanted to savour each story, willing the book not to end. Though, when I did sometimes read straight from one story to the next, I realized how flawless is Tsabari’s ability to introduce us to a new set of characters with a new set of challenges. As soon as a new story has begun, the reader…

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Why I Choose to Only Read Books by Writers of Colour in 2014

When I came across, “Why I Only Read Books by Women in 2013,” by Lilit Marcus, I wished that I’d thought of it. The meme of listing ten books that made the most impact on us had just gone viral on Facebook and I was saddened by the number of lists dominated by white, male writers. When I wrote my own list on FB, I listed only books by women. Not because I wasn’t influenced by male writers. I was. Hugely. Chekov, and Garcia and Nabokov all blew my mind when I was growing up. But because everyone already listed…

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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.…

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A Review in Publishers Weekly

The Best Place on Earth had another great review in Publishers Weekly. From their website: “Publishers Weekly, familiarly known in the book world as PW and ‘the bible of the book business,’ is a weekly news magazine focused on the international book publishing business.” Exciting! The review is short and sweet; apparently all PW reviews must be under a 100 words. Here’s a quote: “This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. Her writing has an immediacy and power that invites readers into her characters’ psyches…  Tsabari’s characters will…

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A Glowing Review in The Vancouver Sun (and Other Places Too)

The Best Place on Earth was reviewed in The Vancouver Sun last week, which was exciting for many reasons. First of all, it was a fantastic, thoughtful and well written review by author and poet Dennis E. Bolen, in which some comparisons to Hemingway (!) were made. Secondly, the article was a full-page spread with a ridiculously huge picture of me (I was kind of startled when I saw it). And finally, it was The Vancouver Sun!!! Perhaps because Vancouver was my home for eleven years, and it is where I met Sean and where I started my writing career, I…

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The Best Place on Earth First Month Recap

It’s hard to believe but it’s been over a month since The Best Place on Earth was released! Probably because so much has happened. It finally feels like spring in Toronto, the sun is shining, the tree in the backyard has begun to bloom, I packed up my parka in favour of a lighter coat (not leather jacket weather yet, I’m afraid), and the grass in the front yard turned vibrant green. Exciting times! I wanted to catch up on some of the coverage that The Best Place on Earth has received this past month. The biggest news is that…

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More Reviews!

It’s been a surreal and wonderful experience, reading reviews of The Best Place on Earth. After spending all this time writing in my room, in front of a screen, to an imaginary audience, having people read the book and write about it, is kind of extraordinary. Two recent reviews really moved me with their generous and attentive reading of the book and their thoughtful observations. Sharon Chisvin wrote a great review for the Winnipeg Free Press, calling the book “brutally honest,” “smart, sad and sincere,” describing the characters as “achingly human and almost flawlessly fashioned,” and quoting from segments of the…

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