Page 6 - Jewish News_February-2021

6A February 2021 FEDERATION NEWS

Fiction authors take center stage in February’s People of the Book...continued from page 6A
engrossed in whatever I’m creating
People of the Book virtual lecture events that I shiver with adrenaline. I need
silence and total isolation – no laptop

By Gayle Guynup in a coffee shop. And I’m very linear. I
he People of the Book author three non-fiction books, Undress Me in moment in history when many of us have to start a story at the very begin-
ning. I’m not one of those writers who
lecture series of virtual events, the Temple of Heaven, Hypocrite in a literally can’t leave our buildings, I can work on the ending first and skip
Tsponsored by The Jewish Fed- Pouffy White Dress and Kiss My Tiara, hope that Donna Has Left the Build- around writing scenes. I’m a builder,
eration of Sarasota-Manatee, con- as well as two novels, The Ice Cream ing will offer a glimmer of possibility. not a jazz player. And some days my
tinues in February with four works of Queen of Orchard Street, and her new- Donna’s life as she knows it implodes. words flow so spectacularly, I become
fiction. The week-long event begins est work, Donna Has Left the Building. Everything stable vanishes overnight. convinced I’m a literary genius. That
Monday, February 8 at 10:30 a.m., Gilman has written for several news- And yet, she comes to realize that her is, until I re-read whatever I’ve writ-
with Susan Jane Gilman and her book, papers and magazines, including The life isn’t over – and she’s not used up. ten a few hours later, and it’s inevita-
Donna Has Left the Building. It will New York Times, Salon, Real Simple I hope that readers who are feeling bly garbage. I become convinced that
be followed on Tuesday, February 9 at and Ms. magazine. She has also been trapped and anxious right now will es- I’m now talentless and no longer have
2:00 p.m. with author Rachel Baren- a contributor to NPR’s All Things Con- cape through this novel – yet glean the a career. But eventually, I force myself
baum and her book, A Bend in the sidered. Donna Has Left the Building ways in which they still have power in to power through the doubt and keep
Stars. Next, on Wednesday, February chronicles Donna Koczynski, a wife, our world. writing. In the end, it’s always me,
10 at 7:00 p.m., Meg Waite Clayton mother, former punk rocker and recov- What did you learn about your- alone in a room with a computer, lost in
will speak on her book, The Last Train ering alcoholic who sets off on an epic self by writing this book? my head. That’s it. The big glamorous
to London. The month will wrap up on road trip to reclaim everything she be- I learned that it is possible to write life of a bestselling author.
Thursday, February 11 at 2:00 p.m., lieves she has sacrificed: great friend- 200 pages in a caffeine-fueled fugue Susan Jane Gilman Rachel Barenbaum /
with Lynda Cohen Loigman and her ship, passionate love and her art. over seven months without regularly (photo credit: Francois Bourru) A Bend in the Stars
book, The Wartime Sisters. What is it that you hope people showering. Until I began Donna Has gleamed. But with Donna, once I got Rachel Barenbaum’s debut novel, A
Susan Jane Gilman / who read it glean from this book? Left the Building, I always wrote like into the head of my crazed, imploding Bend in the Stars, was named a New
Donna Has Left the Building As a writer, I always want to make a diamond cutter: slowly, methodi- protagonist, I found myself writing York Times Summer Reading selection
Susan Jane Gilman is the author of readers laugh and feel less alone. At a cally polishing every sentence until it recklessly, just trying to get the draft and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great
down on paper – perfectionism be New Writers selection. It is also a Bos-
damned! I wrote with incredible veloc- ton Globe bestseller. Barenbaum is a
ity. This story demanded it. prolific writer and reviewer for the Los
Tell us a bit about your writing Angeles Review of Books, the Tel Aviv
process. Review of Books and Dead Darlings.
Generally, my writing process is a She is an honorary research associate
fusion of obsessive-compulsive disor- at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.
der and manic-depression. I sit down A Bend in the Stars is a World War
at my computer at the same time every I-era novel and love story of a brilliant
morning and procrastinate for exactly young doctor who races against Ein-
an hour, then force myself to write. stein to solve one of the universe’s
Some days, I’m doing the literary great mysteries – the theory of relativi-
equivalent of just re-combing my hair. ty. Grounded in history, the book offers
Other days, I become so completely an account of one of modern science’s
continued on next page
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