The Creation of Lauren Yanofsky

Last month my third YA novel, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust was published by Orca Books. Quite a few people have asked about the title, and just how I came to write a book about a Jewish teenager who hates the Holocaust. "Why does Lauren hate the Holocaust?" people ask me. I respond, "Please, does anyone like the Holocaust?"

I launched the book at Novel Idea, Kingston's amazing independent bookstore and before I read from the book, I gave a short talk about how I came to write the book. Below is an an excerpt from my talk that evening.

Good evening friends and thanks for coming.

Several of my members of my book club are here and I know many of them might find it amusing that I have written a book called Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust since I’ve been claiming to them for several years now that I don’t read books about the Holocaust. One would assume that I also don’t write books about the Holocaust, but that appears not to be true, something that also surprises myself. Perhaps I’ve captured some of that ambivalence in the title, because Lauren doesn’t just confront the Holocaust (a title my father suggested) or memorialize the Holocaust, the way Jewish and non-Jewish communities are doing all over the world this week because it is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, she hates it. She hates it because she believes it has overtaken her Jewish culture and her own Jewish identity. She hates the way it has co-opted what it means to be Jewish, the way mentioning your cultural identity brings up images of gas chambers and death trains.

For many years, I was like Lauren Yanofksy. I just hated the Holocaust. I didn’t want to talk or think about it. I was tired of books and movies and reverent glances of non Jews. Could we not focus on something other than the big H? Even terrorism and war and occupation of Israel/Palestine were couched in the language of the Holocaust. The Palestinians accused the Israelis of being Nazis and the Israeli government would bring up the memory of the Shoah, the Holocaust, at the drop of the hat to justify their actions.

Then, while teaching here in the Kingston area, one of my grade six students made a swastika armband during my French lesson. And it stopped me short. The student claimed to have learned about the Nazis from watching the History channel and claimed not to know about the atrocities they had committed. He seemed genuinely surprised when the principal explained why the armband was so offensive, especially to me. The student apologized, the armband was confiscated and the incident forgotten.

Except I didn’t forget about it. And I was surprised at how emotional my reaction to that armband was. It bothered me because it represented the death of so many people, and it bothered me that the student didn’t know about it, and mainly it bothered me that it bothered me. Even though I had tried to forget the Holocaust and not have it be part of my identity, it still was. And it would continue to be so. There was no avoiding it. Even when I read seemingly non Holocaust books, it would pop up mid way through. Or it would be on the news, or my twitter feed. I talked to my father who was still voraciously reading Holocaust books. He said the Holocaust was an opportunity for teaching tolerance. I sighed, and said, surely there’s another way, a more “Gandhian” way. What I really meant was not necessarily a more peaceful way, just one less personal to me.

The armband incident stuck with me for a long time, and so did my Holocaust ambivalence and discomfort. Then one morning I woke up with a title in my head, Lauren Yanofksy Hates the Holocaust. I knew Lauren would hate it because of the atrocities committed, but also because of the complicated legacy to Jewish culture and identity. I knew I was going to have to write the book to work out my uncertainties and ambivalence. And so I have.



Author Leanne Lieberman with her very excited and enthusiastic friend, Karen Zabel
Novel Idea Bookstore, Kingston ON April 2013



How NOT To Write a Book

I’m in the midst of editing a book and it’s not going well. I also haven’t finished it, which is problematic. The first four chapters just rock right along, and then in the middle section none of the chapters (or are they short stories?)  really link up. Then there’s the unwritten third section. All this has made me quite qualified to write a book called How Not To Write A Book: A Guide To Failed Manuscripts and Other Literary Mishaps. I’ve noticed already that this is not a title I should ever choose because writing it even once is re-activating my tendinitis. (Which leads to a flare-up of TMJ, which is an acronym I always have difficulty unpacking, but it means my jaw really hurts.)

Anyhoo, here are ten possible chapters for HNTWB.

1)      Start in the middle and assume you’ll just figure out the beginning.

2)      Plan to write short stories and then decide to make them into chapters.

3)      Use every single idea you’ve ever had so that you have over eleven significant characters.

4)      Overload your main character with every possible life crises - abuse, miscarriage, early death of mother figure, sleazy husbands and of course, deep dark family secrets.

5)      Send your character to a foreign country to see how she makes out.

6)      Create plots that revolve around specific historical events that make later parts of the book completely implausible. For example, you want your heroine to be old enough to experience World War Two, but you also want her to have children in the eighties.

7)      Write half the chapters in the present tense and the other half in the past tense.

8)      Write half the chapters in the first person and mysteriously change to third person half way through the book. Neither is convincing so change the whole book to the very difficult second person. Spend a lot of time changing pronouns.

9)      Kill off characters early on in the book because they are inconvenient or hold up the plot. 

10)  Include long sections from your personal life or experience that you know have very little bearing on the story but are just too good to leave out. Spend A LOT of time perfecting these, even though you know they’ll get axed later.

How Not To Write A Book will also have a special section on procrastinating for writers: changing font size and paragraphing to look like you’ve done some writing, starting a blog (ahem), and re-reading other failed manuscripts to see if they can be revamped etc.

Wish me luck over the next year as I try to pull this book from its current mess into something amazing.  

Dear Teen Me

This week a letter I wrote is featured on the popular blog Dear Teen Me, a site where YA authors write letters to their former teen selves. It’s an inversion of the grade eight guidance exercise where you had to write a letter to your future self. Initially I thought these letters would be full of boring, wholesome platitudes like “be yourself” and “things come out okay in the end.” Instead the letters are intensely personal stories, mini memoirs, with lots of teenage blood and gore.

My first attempt to write my Dear Teen Me letter were full of boring platitudes (Just relax! Don’t stress!), but when I started digging deeper, I started remembering some intense high school memories. I had to stop and take a couple of deep breaths. I remembered things so

intensely personal and shameful that I couldn’t possibly imagine sharing them online. It also felt masochistic to relive some of those experiences, even for the purpose of educating or entertaining others.

I did manage to write a letter to myself that is deeply personal and a hard to read, but doesn’t make me look like a complete idiot. You can read it at www.dearteenme.com. In the mean time, here are some shorter memos to myself in the same teenage vein.

Dear Teen Me,

When you go to France, please don’t tell your host family you came to meet men. It doesn’t go over well and you have to move to another family. Yes, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of this story later, but at the time it’s devastating. So please, use a dictionary. You came to France to meet people, les gens, not les hommes.

Dear Teen Me,

When you have a party, don’t let the boys throw the beer bottles in your trash cans behind your house. Your father will come home, recycle them and make tame comments about the boys from the nearby school drinking in the lane. Then your mother will show up at your Hebrew school bottle drive with a station wagon full of beer bottles and also not say a word. Their total silence will

drive you bonkers.

Dear Teen Me,

Please don’t tell your sister to f-off in front of the rabbi during your bat mitzvah pictures. It makes your parents REALLY unhappy.

Dear Teen Me,

If you’re going to lie to your parents about where you’re going for the weekend (Sin Island), get your friends to cover for you. Otherwise they’ll know your parents are worrying about where you are and feel obliged to call and tell them. This isn’t good for anyone’s relationship.

Dear Teen Me,

If you’re going to fall off your sister’s bed and get gouged by the metal frame, please get stitches instead of “just using a band aid.” It’ll leave a smaller scar and you won’t have to wear shorts in February to accommodate the massive bandage on your leg.

Please feel free to share your own hopefully embarrassing Dear Teen Me moments.

 

The Painted Girls by Cathy Buchanan

For my birthday I received a copy of Cathy Buchanan’s The Painted Girls, which has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for quite some time. I was excited to read the book not only because I had heard great things about it in the press, but because I also know Cathy. I met her through my friend Ania Szado, also a great writer with a new book out- Studio St. X. A number of years ago Cathy invited me to her home to meet author Brian Francis, author of Fruit and we’ve kept in touch loosely since I moved away from Toronto.          

So does Cathy’s book live up to the hype? You’d just have to ask my children how I ignored them for large swathes of the Easter weekend with my nose in her book to answer that question. Yes, Cathy’s book is really great. Set in the belle époque period of Paris in the 1880’s, it tells the story of two sisters living in the poverty stricken world of Montmatre. Like all good historical fiction, The Painted Girls takes you deep into the Paris demimonde with its meticulous research. The book is narrated by Marie and Antoinette Van Goethem. With their father dead and their mother addicted to absinthe, theses two young girls must find a way to support themselves. Marie becomes a dancer at the Paris Opéra and then a model for Degas’ Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen. Antoinette works as an extra in Emilie Zola’s play L’Assommoir. Cathy describes the girls’ attempts to survive in a world where poor women have little protection in a deeply moving and compelling way. I was swept up by The Painted Girls not only by the sisters’ rivalry and the period details, but also because it provided a female view into the time period. Instead of the erotic male gaze, the book gives voice to the underclass of women who served as their models and this was a welcome change to the experience of viewing Impressionist paintings. 

I’m looking forward more of Cathy’s books. In the mean time, I have CS Richardson’s The Emperor of Paris to keep me occupied with all things francais.

Tolerance speaks!

I don't usually spontaneously blog, but I heard something on the radio that really moved me this week. Every day I leave my house in time to hear Jian Gomeshi announce the letter of the day on Q and then I listen to his feature interview. If I miss his show, the day just isn't right. Occasionally, I get to work and I have to stay in my car until the news comes on. Since my day isn't terribly media-rich, this is my daily dose. And so I find myself listening to interviews with Michael Bolton, but also Eve Ensler and my world is slightly widened.
Well, this week as I was cruising up Princess Street, Jian interviewed David Abitbol from Jewlicious and two women, Megan and Grace Phelps Roper, formerly of the Westboro Baptist Church. I had never heard of the church before but they do things like picket synagogues and fill the Internet with anti-Semitic and gay-hating propaganda. David and Megan "met" on Twitter a few years ago and what started out as provocation from Megan, quickly turned into an honest discussion about what Judaism was. Megan had been taught to hate Jews, but since she's a curious and intelligent individual, she started to do a little research on what she was supposed to hate. A few years later, she and her sister Grace made the heavy decision to leave their church since they no longer could abide by the church's hate-filled ideas. What moved me most about the interview was not the tremendous story of two young women who can clearly think for themselves, but the tolerance David Abitbol showed them by not responding merely with disdain or disgust. Instead he took the time to respond to their inquiries with genuine patience. Tolerance speaks!
And that's the kind of Jew, and human being, I want to be-a tolerant one. http://www.cbc.ca/q/2013/03/19/leaving-the-westboro-baptist-church/

Orca Spring Titles

Not only does my excellent publisher Orca Books do a super job editing, designing and promoting my work, but I also find myself in an excellent “pod” of writers. This spring is no exception. One of my favourite upcoming titles is Allegra by Shelley Hrdlitschka. While attending a performing arts school, Allegra is forced to take a music theory class. Allegra is initially annoyed by the both the course and the instructor, but when the teacher assigns her a music theory project that is both challenging and engaging, Allegra starts to change her mind about both the project and the instructor.

One of the things I liked best about the book is how Hrdlitschka tackles Allegra’s anxiety. A growing issue among teens, I’m sure many readers will see themselves reflected in this novel.

Next up is Damage, by Robin Stevenson, from the Orca Soundings List, (short high-interest novels with contemporary themes). When the protagonist, Zach, leaves his annoying parents at a California hotel to travel with a beautiful girl named Ronnie who used to babysit him, he thinks he’s going on a Hollywood road trip. Ronnie may be beautiful but she’s got a crying toddler and an ex-boyfriend who is a cop looking for her. Zach finds himself in way over his head.

Stevenson’s novel is both well-written and a page-turner.

Also by Robin Stevenson is Record Breaker, a novel for 9-12 year olds. Set in 1963, twelve-year-old Jack’s family is reeling from the death of his baby sister. Jack tries to relieve his mother’s sadness by setting a new world record. When attempts at record setting by sausage eating or chair rocking don’t seem to help his mother, Jack sets out on a different path with the help of some friends.

Stevenson’s characters are memorable and the time period perfectly evoked.  Interesting male and female characters will make this book appeal to a wide variety of kids.

Happy reading everyone.

Re-emerging The Jews of Nigeria

It’s official, April is going to be a Lieberman Family Arts Double Header. Not only am I launching my novel Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust on April 11^th at 7:30 pm at Novel Idea Bookstore here in Kingston, my brother’s film RE-EMERGING: The Jews of Nigeria, will play at The Screening Room on April 13^th at 7:30 pm.

The film is about the little-known communities of Igbo people who are practicing Judaism throughout much of Africa's most populous nation, and who believe they are continuing the traditions of their ancestors.  Jeff travelled to Nigeria with a Conservative Maryland rabbi to meet several of these communities six years ago. I remember it well because he was in Nigeria when my first son was born.

I recently watched the film and was curious to see how he had presented the story after listening to descriptions of his work for the past several years. While I knew it was about Jewish Nigerians, I didn’t know it would also delve into the lives and culture of the Igbo people. I was fascinated by the different Igbo synagogues and the different characters in the film. Probably my favourite part was watching a congregation sing “Oh Sey Shalom.” If you’ve grown up in the Christian tradition, perhaps you’ve seen songs you know well sung by others from around the world, but for me this was the first time I had heard a song sung by others so far away. It was both familiar and also utterly different, and that held me captivated.

The film includes a wide range of American academics detailing the Igbo history, including shedding new light on the Igbo origins of thousands of slaves captured during the Atlantic Slave Trade and brought to American shores. The film also delves into this history and travels to the southeast coast of Georgia, where locals still speak of the Igbo spirit alive and well at a riverbed called Ibo Landing. Both Jeff and I were both recently in Georgia on St. Simon’s Island and I got to tour around some Igbo sites.

Although the film doesn’t delve directly into the “Who is a Jew” debate, it does raise some interesting questions. Who gets to be a Jew might seem a tame question, but it’s not. If you want to be a Christian, you can easily become one. For Jews, it’s a little different. Jews don’t proselytize and in order to be considered Jewish you either have to have Jewish parents, or go through a long and complicated conversion process. The question of who is a Jew becomes more interesting in light of Israel’s “right of return,” policy. According to Israeli immigration, anyone Jewish has the right to come to Israel and live as a citizen. However, the Orthodox Rabbinate has the power to declare some conversions not up to their standard. While North American Jews might not be moving to Israel in droves, for Africans, it might be appealing. If Jewish Nigerians  decide to move on masse to Israel, they have the potential to create an enormous refugee problem. Not so subtle racism also underlies the “Who is a Jew” debate.

Not only is Jeff coming to Kingston (and Toronto -April 17^th and 18th) Jeff’s film has now screened at the Boston, Washington, DC, Phoenix and Vancouver Jewish Film Festivals, and the 92nd Street Y in New York.

Sound interesting? For film trailers, photos, bios, synopsis, screening info, reviews you can check

out www.re-emergingfilm.com Or watch the FILM TRAILER.