I'm Back! It's Been Awhile.....

Hello Friends--I'm grateful for a wonderful inaugural year for In Many Waters which included many readings, events, speaking engagements, reviews and the like: the most for any of my books.

I'm back at my writing desk  now and also concentrating on personal health: cleaning up my diet, exercising, and making sure to leave time to chill.  All that travel takes a toll on the body.  But it's been a great ride.

See you soon.

LET US NEVER FOGET TO REMEMBER: HOLOCAUST BOOKFAIR-MONTREAL

JPL Afternoon Book Review

Please join me at The Jewish Public Library this Fall when I will be discussing the new novel,
"All The Light We Cannot See," by highly acclaimed, award-winning author Anthony Doerr.
A deeply layered literary best-seller, this novel is the tale of a blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned Resistance tracker whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

When: Thursday October 23, 2:00 p.m.

Where: The Jewish Public Library, 5151 Cote Ste-Catherine

For tickets and info., call (514)-345-6416


Welcome Fall with a great read and discussion.

Look forward to seeing you there!

READING AT PARAGRAPHE BOOKSTORE

AN EVENING OF FICTION AND MEMOIR


Please join me on Thursday, August 7th at 6 pm-7:30 at Paragraphe Bookstore
2220 McGill College Avenue, Montreal

I will be sharing new work and reading from The White Space Between, Winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction.  I'll be available to answer questions and sign books.

My friend and peer Angie Chuang will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of her new
memoir, The Four Words for Home.

Hope to see you there.

Free!

IN YOUR OWN VOICE

Get your creative juices flowing in this two-session, creative writing intensive workshop.  Catalysts and springboards will help you find your material.  I'll discuss elements of the craft, such as character building and story shaping.


Where: The Jewish Public Library, 5151 Cote Ste-Catherine Street

When: Tuesdays, May 13 and May 20th, 10:30 a.m.-Noon

Info. and Registration: (514)-345-2627 ext. 3006.  $30 Library members; $40 non-members

To Learn more: Contact me at ami-sands@sympatico.ca


Write Into Spring!

Look forward to seeing you in my workshop!

Join Me At the JPL for the Afternoon Book Revew Series

I'll be at the Jewish Public Library this Fall to discuss the acclaimed new novel, And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.  The story begins in Kabul and travels across continents, spanning more than a half a century.  The new novel is a complex mosaic, a portrait of the Afghan diaspora and those left behind.  Hosseini traces the trauma of war and tyranny with vibrantly-realized characters, "to create a grand and encompassing tree of life," according to Booklist.  How families love, honour, care for, and betray one another, is at the core of this emotionally moving story.

Hear my perspective as a novelist and reader and share your own.

November 14th
2 p.m.
Jewish Public Library
5151 Cote-Ste.-Catherine Street
Montreal
Info: (514)-345-6416

Can You See Me? Now an Ebook

My novel, Can You See Me? is newly available as an ebook.  This novel is close to my heart and is written with the power of first-hand experience. 

When happens when the person you love most, best, falls prey to schizophrenia?  Can You See Me? is the story of Doren and Sarah Solomon, a brother and sister so close they share a secret place, imaginary world, and private language during childhood.  While Sarah grows up and relinquishes their private haven, for Doren, it becomes a way of life he never surrenders.  Sarah struggles to help Doren, even to save him, without going under herself.  Told in the voices of Doren and Sarah, Can You See Me? is a powerful psychodrama portraying schizophrenia from the inside-out.

A recommended book by The National Alliance of the Mentally Ill and a Pushcart Prize Nominee.

Publishers Weekly had this to say about the novel: "Heartfelt, ambitious; one family's way of coping with the trauma, shame and secrecy of mental illness.  A genuinely moving novel."

With one person in every four families grappling with some form of mental illness, Can You See Me? is a story readers will connect with.

Join Me at the JPL Book Review Series

Warm up winter by attending the kick-off to the Jewish Public Library's Afternoon Book Review Series on March 7th.  I will be leading a talk and discussion about the wonderful debut novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Brooklyn-based author, Ayana Mathis.

Set against the background of The Great Migration, when six-million African-Americans journeyed north to escape the terrible hardships of the Jim Crow South, this epic novel tells the story of Hattie Shephard, who boards a train from Georgia to Philadelphia with her family in the hopes of realizing the American dream.  A well-deserved Oprah Book Club pick and much buzzed about novel.

Thursday, March 7th
2 p.m.
Jewish Public Library
5151 St. Catherine Street
Montreal
Advance tickets: (514)-345-6416

TALKING ON THE WALL

Check out my new short story, "Talking On the Wall," in Carte-Blanche Issue 16.  It's based on my work teaching creative writing to mothers in prison.

http://carte-blanche.org/talking-on-the-wall/


Enjoy the creative work in Issue 16.  I'd welcome your comments.

The Rosedale Writing Studio

STORYLINE

A Fiction Workshop With Ami Sands Brodoff


This workshop is open to adult writers with a longing to carve out space in their lives for creative writing, and for active writers seeking in-depth critique and guidance for future work. Work intensively with Ami, an award-winning novelist and short story author, on developing your craft and your portfolio of stories, or plunge in and start that novel you've been meaning to write.

Warm, supportive atmosphere. Catalysts and springboards will help to get your creative juices flowing.

Each student will receive an individual conference at the end of the workshop. Refreshments served in front of a blazing fire.

Eight Weeks, Monday evenings, 7:00-9:00 p.m. October 15th-December 3rd.
NDG location

Workshop fee: $225, payable to the instructor, which will reserve your place.

Registration Open: Please contact Ami at: (514)-481-5270
ami-sands@sympatico.ca

For more information about Ami, check out her website at Amisandsbrodoff.com Hope to see you at the first class!

Join Me At The Yellow Door!

Come on out to The Yellow Door on Thursday May 17th for an evening of music, prose and poetry. Doors open at 7 and it promises to be a varied and stimulating line-up, including Ian Ferrier and Alice Petersen.

I'll be sharing new work! Hope to see you there.

POETRY AND PROSE READING

www.yellowdoor.org
3625 Aylmer, Montreal (between Pine & Prince Arthur) 514-845-2600

Producer Ilona Martonfi 514-939-4173
ilona.martonfi@sympatico.ca
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Doors 7:00 pm Reading 7:30 pm At the door $5

An evening of Poetry, Prose & Music:

Residency at Fundacion Valparaiso

Here are some images from my stay in Mojacar, Spain at Fundacion Valparaiso where I'm in residence with some great artists and writers and hard at work on my novel-in-progress, Faraway Nearby.

An Imminent Journey

I will soon journey to Spain for a month's residency at Fundacion Valparaiso on the Costa del Sol. Once there, I will be living and working with seven other artists and writers from around the world. My project is the novel, Faraway Nearby, about three orphans whose lives intersect on the island of Malta, one of whom is a Libyan migrant. I hope to become deeply immersed in my story and characters, thanks to the concentrated focused attention and the break from quotidian cares and responsibilities that this fellowship generously provides. Once a year, I become an outlaw Mom and rediscover myself out of my usual context.

The retreat was founded in 1989 by the Danish artist, Paul Beckett and his wife, Beatrice. It sits on the edge of terraced almond, orange and olive groves with a view of the Sierra Cabrera and the white hilltop village of Mojacar. The residence was a former olive oil mill house.

The area is a hiker's paradise and is just 4 km from the sea. I'm looking forward to daily walks and explorations. Andalucian cities such as Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla are a bus-ride away. So when I'm not writing, I'll be taking excursions and learning more about Espana.

I was last in Spain at the age of 16 when I lived with a Spanish family in Zamora for a summer, immersing myself in their daily life and world. They ran a fish stall at the local market and welcomed me with warmth, as a member of their family. One sister, my age, worked in a pastry factory, their oldest son laid down bathroom tile and served as my fiercest protector, warding off any interest from male admirers, and their "baby," eight years old was my constant companion. I came home fluent in Spanish and in love with Spain.

Though it's taken me forty years to manage a return trip, I'm grateful and incredibly excited about this opportunity.

I am getting ready for my journey now, packing and planning, and practicing my Spanish. Be sure to check this space for news and pictures of my adventure.

Night Lights

Tonight, our family along with many other Jewish families will light the first candle for the celebration of Hanukkah 5772. As the flame burns brightly inside our home, we will place our Menorah in the window facing the street to make our light visible.

The word Chanukah derives from the verb la'chnoch--to dedicate, inaugurate, celebrate a fresh start, to begin anew.

Hanukkah lasts for eight days to commemorate the Maccabees victory over the conquerers of Israel in 168 BCE and to remember their rebuilding and renewing of the Jewish Temple, which had been defiled. The Maccabees were faced with the challenge of cleaning and rededicating a still-standing, but desecrated Temple. As they sifted through the wreckage to salvage what they could, they found a tiny container of oil, which they expected to last for only one night. Instead, this small amount of oil burned brightly for eight nights.

These days, at least for us, Hanukkah is less about age-old miracles--as magical as they may have been--and more about an opportunity for renewing and building what may have gone stale in our lives, or that which has failed to develop and evolve. The festival of lights provides a chance for us to envision how we might be better and do better,how our world might be a more tolerant, enlightened place. The insights flicker, but to enact them in our daily lives--that is the galvanizing challenge.

May everyone be free to light their own lights and to display their glow for all to see. Blessings for a joyful Hanukkah.

Hag Sameah!

BOOKS & BAGELS

For Teen Writers With A Story Itching To Be Told

THE WRITE WAY

A Creative Writing Seminar for Senior School Teens

Work intensively in a small, seminar setting with an award-winning, professional novelist and short story author. Develop your craft and create your own portfolio of stories, or begin a longer work, such as a novel. Tap into your richest, deepest material and crack open your stories. Supportive peer critique and the instructor’s expertise will help you to get to the next level in your writing. Each student will receive an individual conference with the instructor. Supportive, warm environment.

This workshop is open to Secondary III, IV & V students from any school with a passion for writing and some background in craft. Held at Lower Canada College, 4099Royal Ave., NDG, Room # to be confirmed.

Eight Weeks, Monday afternoons, begins Oct. 3rd-Dec. 5th: 4:00-5:30 p.m. (no class Oct. 10 & Nov. 7).

SEMINAR LIMITED TO 8. For more information, please contact Ami at:
ami-sands@sympatico.ca.

BACK IN THE REAL WORLD...BUT PINING FOR THE LOST RETREAT

Newly home after a paradisal residency at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, VCCA, where I completed a full first revision of my novel, Faraway Nearby. For the first two-and-half to three weeks of my time, I worked day and night, immersing in the story, the characters, the varied landscapes of my book, which range from Valletta, Malta, to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, to Montreal. After writing in fits and starts for months at home, feeling fragmented by the demands of my life as writer, mother, and chief-cook-and-bottle washer, I was able to hold and contain the book within my mind and imagination, thanks to the shedding of all those quotidian distractions.

I had a beautiful studio in the barn with four huge windows, three looking out on hills and pasture. It was fun watching the horses and the cows and the bull and witnessing the birth of several calves. The rumbling vibration of the coal train which shudders past the colony, oh, perhaps four times during the day and night lulled me to sleep and coaxed me awake, and calmed me as I wrote and imagined and sculpted my book. I love the sound of trains, in fact, I love almost everything about trains...that feeling of being suspended--time out from time, not only riding a train, but even hearing and seeing one gives me that feeling.

I met some wonderful artists--novelists, poets, composers, painters--several of whom I know will become life-long friends.

I'm grateful, but also happy to be back home with my nearest and dearest. I missed you guys...bad. Thankfully, everyone is alive, well, thriving, despite my month of being an outlaw mom.

My next rez will be in Spain at Fundacion Valparaiso, though not for some time. I leave home alone a maximum of once a year. Now, if I can only time this residency for the six-month-long Montreal winter, with a visit from my hubbie and kids, well, that would be heaven on earth.

Spring Events: Hope to See You There!

I have several exciting events coming up this spring. Please join me and nourish your literary soul.

I'll be appearing at ImagiNation 2011: Writers' Festival in beautiful Quebec City. Come stop by at the book signing and have your copy of The White Space Between and Bloodknots inscribed. The signing will take place on Friday, April 15, at 4 p.m. at Le Salon du Livres at The Quebec Convention Centre, Maison Anglaise booth. Later that evening, come and listen to a reading and panel on "Body Talk" where I will appear with Giller short-listed author Alex MaCleod, and Paul Kropp. The event will take place at Morrin College, 7 p.m.

For more information and details, check The Morrin Centre website at: www.morrin.org and look for ImagiNation, 2011.

In June, when Montreal is hotter than hot, join me and The Association of Jewish Libraries Annual Convention, where I will be reading from The White Space Between, and discussing whether I consider myself "A Jewish Writer" and why. Glen Rotchin and others will be on hand to weigh in.

This event is at 10:15 a.m. in room Viger A at The Chateau Champlain Marriott Hotel. For more information, check their website at: http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/conventions/convention2011.htm

Here's to spring ...and to literature!

Winter Warriors

As I write to y'all, I'm gazing out my picture window in my "room of one's own," looking out on a wintry white wonderland, the kind of scene so often depicted on Christmas cards or viewed in miniature within a snowglobe after you shake the crystal ball. The palette is all frosted white, silver, teal and gray, the skeletons of the winter-warped trees lacey against the sky. It is beautiful, but I'm cozy inside, loathe to go out.

Montrealers are tough, Canadians are hearty. Though it looks like we have close to a couple of feet of snow and blowing gusts of white, school is in session, basketball practice for my star daughter is happening tonight, life goes on. No matter that the plows have not really completed their work yet, no matter that driving conditions are slow and difficult, perhaps hazardous, no matter that visibility is poor.

I plan to stay in, all day, and throughout the night. There will be b-ball tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. We will have a blazing fire and hot cocoa, we will gather together and read and chat. Winter, bring it on. I have what I need right here.

True Discovery

I admit: I often root for the dark horse, the underdog. This year, in our incessant Literary Awards Season, I was pleasantly surprised to find indie-press books on short lists and writers I had never heard of become winners.

I look forward to getting a copy of Johanna Skibsrud's The Sentimentalists next week, when it becomes available in stores. I may also check out GG winner Clear Water for my winter break reading list.

Please read, read, read. Don't always buy the winner, or the short-listed books, or even the long-listed books for that matter. Discover a book in a remainder pile that is extraordinary and tell your friends. There are so many wonderful novels, story collections, volumes of poetry that never make it on any List. But with a bit of luck, perhaps they will end up on your nighttable and will move you, literally take you from one place to another, if only in your imagination.