The Teen Scene
Jewish Book Week goes Back to School.
In June JBW brought an exciting collection of people involved in Jewish writing (including; novelists, shorts story writers, journalists, cartoonists and storytellers) back to school. Read about our events at Immanuel College and JFS including reviews and interviews by students.
   
Immanuel College’s Year 12 had the opportunity to hear from Adam Lebor, who has written City of Oranges a memoir of six very different families from the city of Jaffa in Israel; three Jewish and three Arab. His book is filled with some amazing photographs from each of the families whose stories reveal a larger picture of life in the city throughout the twentieth century. These stories reveal some of the complex nature of life in Israel, which gives a human perspective to the historical situation.
Novelist and short story writer Assaf Gavron talked about his work as a London-based Israeli writer, dislocated from everyday life there. It is this experience which has allowed him to write his new novel Croc Attack. No other Israeli fiction writer has attempted to reflect the current climate in quite this way. He read an excerpt from this text and from Moving, his previous book.
Finally, cartoonist Jeremy Gerlis gave a fascinating talk which outlined the history of the genre, with a particularly Jewish spin. (did you know that the creators of Superman, Spiderman and the X-Men were all Jewish??) He also talked about what inspires his own cartoons which feature on the Jewish Chronicle letters page each week and have now been collected into a book, A Little Kosher Whine.
Read the review of the event at Immanuel College
We also came to JFS for one day of their Reading Festival. Meg Rosoff, author of the award-winning and truly fabulous How I Live Now and the brand new Just In Case talked to years 9 and 10 about the things which inspired her to become a writer, how she comes up with ideas, her favourite writers and lots more. She also gave a reading from her book and answered even the strangest questions asked -!
Based in Budapest, Adam LeBor (a former JFS student), talked to years 11 and 12 about his book City of Oranges. Adam works as the Central and Eastern European correspondent for The Times.
A group of year 8 students had the opportunity to participate in an intercultural storytelling workshop with year 8 students from Preston Manor, a nearby local comprehensive. The session was run by Pamela Marre, a fantastic storyteller who tells both personal, family stories alongside traditional folktales. She told a folktale from Mali which highlighted the importance of stories in the transmission of memory within communities and then another about her grandparents arrival to this country from Eastern Europe. The participants then had a chance to do their own story-making and telling.
Click here for an interview with Meg by JFS Students
Click here for an interview with Adam LeBor by JFS students.
We're currently coming up with some very exciting ideas for Jewish Book Week 2007.
If you have any ideas you'd like to submit to help us create the best ever Jewish Book Week in 2007 then click here and let us know what you're reading and who you'd most like to see at the festival.
Here’s a review of the day by Immanuel College’s Becky Skelker
After our rigorous AS level examinations Jewish Book Week kindly sent in three interesting speakers; Assaf Gavron, Adam LeBor and Jeremy Gerlis to remind us that there is more to life than exams. Assaf Gavron is an Israeli author; he has published four novels. He spoke to us about his most recent novel; “CrocAttack”. This book describes the life of an Israeli man who narrowly avoids a number of suicide bombings. He read to us an extract from that novel and from another of his novels called; “Moving”. Both these extracts were absorbing pieces of writing. The opening chapter of “Moving” gave us new ways of looking at normal domestic experiences, like moving. The extract from “CrocAttack” was especially grim but very sensitively written. He spoke about the difficulties of ensuring that the tone of the novel was not accusatory and of writing about this topic so close to when these bombings took place.
 Adam LeBor is a successful journalist. He spoke about his book; “City of Oranges”. Throughout this book, LeBor charts the complicated history of different Arab and Jewish families in Jaffa, Israel. The book sounded fascinating because through the different families LeBor aims to give a wider history of Jaffa whilst not losing touch with the personal history of the families. During his talk, LeBor showed us the progression of the families through pictures, which clearly showed the changes that have taken place in Jaffa and in the families over the years.
Lastly, we heard from Jeremy Gerlis; a cartoonist. For seven years, he has been drawing weekly topical cartoons for “The Jewish Chronicle”. He gave a comical speech in which he outlined the history of the cartoon. Interestingly many of the most famous cartoonists are Jewish. He showed us some of his own cartoons and explained that his aim when people read his cartoons is to make them laugh, then think about the issue and then move on.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable and engaging morning which gave us an insight into the work of authors and cartoonists and recommendations for further reading!
A Land Flowing With Milk and Honey?
Or A City of Oranges……?
An article for Galactik! the JFS Reading Festival 2006
by Sophie Charalampous, Judith Flacks, Ben Lassman, Zoë Robinson, Katie Taylor and Benji Barash
An eagerly awaited Adam LeBor entered the room with a surprising air of calm, for a man who has experienced many worldwide conflicts. An education at JFS led to a degree in Politics, History and Arabic, which was inspired by a year on a Kibbutz in Israel. Speaking of his time in the Kibbutz, he described his disappointment at the hostile attitude of the Israelis and Arabs within one community.
 LeBor’s lifelong dream to bridge the gap between the Middle Eastern conflicts is documented in his new book, ‘City of Oranges; Arabs and Jews in Jaffa’. Over the two years it took to write this masterpiece, his dedication never faltered, waking up at ‘three-o’clock in the morning, as the subconscious worked on it. I frequently thought, this is what I need to add to this chapter’.
Exploring the life and history of six families, both Arab and Israeli, this book with its deliberately “understated” style, is easy to read within an inspirational attitude.
LeBor’s direction focuses on characterisation and emotion, rather than reading like a standard history textbook. ‘People don’t want to read about Theodore Herzl or Palestinian nationalism…I wanted to tell the Human story; people are endlessly fascinating.’
The book is set to follow the success of his other work, including, ‘Hitler’s Secret Bankers: How Switzerland profited from Nazi Genocide’, which was published in over eight foreign languages, including Czech, Japanese and Hebrew. This book was also short listed for the 1997 George Orwell book prize. This achievement was particularly sentimental to LeBor, as Orwell has always been an inspiration to his writing. (Speaking of his favourite Orwell book, ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’, he described Orwell’s work as, ‘amazing.’).
LeBor’s other careers involve flitting back and forth between British National Newspapers, The Independent and The Times
as well as being a foreign correspondent for central Europe. This successful career lead to LeBor’s biographical works on
Slobodan Milosevic in 2002 and a recent interview with Historical icon, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Adam LeBor’s upcoming book, ‘Complicity with Evil: United Nations in the age of Modern Genocide’, is a controversial
account of the workings of the UN in Bosnia and Darfur (Sudan), or as he described it, ‘the not workings’.
Back at home in Budapest, with his Hungarian wife and children, LeBor aspires for ‘City of Oranges’ to one day evolve into
a television documentary or blockbuster film, combining ‘Dan Brown’s money making abilities, with George Orwell’s creative
flair.’
An Interview With Meg Rosoff
By Liora Wittner, Elliot Steinberg, Emily Lewis.
 Meg Rosoff was born in Boston in 1956. She grew up in Boston and has 3 sisters. In 1974 she went to Harvard University. After 3 years she applied to art school in London, was accepted for a year studying sculpture, so moved into a flat with her future boyfriend. According to her, “Art school was a disaster!”
Eventually she returned to the US to finish her degree. Then she moved to New York City where she worked in advertising and publishing. After 10 years she quit her job and went back to live in London. She is now married to an English painter and has a daughter. She has written two bestselling novels aimed at adults and teenagers, called How I Live Now and Just In Case. She has also written a children’s book, Meet Wild Boars.
And now for the interview –
Q: You said that you have no ability to tell stories, so has that improved with writing books?
A: No, not really. I’m not a natural storyteller and I never will be, and I’m often unsure what to write, but I manage.
Q: What happens when magazines criticise you?
A: I’ve had good press so far, but it becomes more difficult and nerve-wracking with each good book, as you always think the next one is going to be really bad. A friend told me it’s good to get bad reviews, because you stop dreading them.
Q: Why did you write How I Live Now?
A: Mainly to impress my agent, as I needed her to help me to become a professional writer. Also, I find the concepts of love and war interesting.
Q: How do you have the willpower to write a whole book?
A: Write a short book – it doesn’t have to be long.
Q: What was it like having an auction for the publishing rights of your book?
A: Amazing – I was over the moon. It was like the start of a whole new life.
Q: What’s your dream job?
A: Archbishop of Canterbury, despite the fact I’m Jewish. I’d really like to boss the Church of England around and have a nice big house in Lambeth. I also wouldn’t mind being the Head Gardener of Regents Park. It’s such a nice idea, so relaxing. But I’d still prefer to be the Archbishop.
Q: How I Live Now was in 1st person. Will all your books be in 1st person?
A: I prefer writing stuff in 1st person. It’s easier because when you write in 1st person you have the voice of the character in your head and it’s easier to be empathetic. If you write in 3rd person you need to be a better storyteller, but 3rd person is more thought based.
Q: Have you considered having separate adults and children’s covers for your books?
A: Not really, I tend to let the marketing people sort it out.
Q: You said you were born in the USA and moved to England. In How I Live Now, the main character Daisy moves from the USA to England. Was this based on your life
A: Yes, it was a similar idea of moving to a new country and feeling more at home there than you did before.
Q: Why didn’t you go straight into publishing?
A: I originally wrote for Glamour magazine, but they turned me down. Many of my previous jobs were related to writing – I always wrote the press release when I worked in politics. Just because you can write doesn’t mean you can write a good book.
Q: Were you good at English in school?
A: I was always good at English. Maths and physics, I failed in.
Q: Do you read a lot?
A: I once had to read 112 books in 3 months as a judge for a reading prize – it was hell. Some of the books were awful. Some of the books were very good though. But generally, I read a lot.
Q: Do you know any famous writers?
A: Tons. Mark Haddon, Phillip Pullman, Sally Gardener, Francesca Simon, Anthony Horowitz .
Q: Will any of your books be made into movies?
A: The screen rights for How I Live Now have already been sold. I wrote the screenplay, and it was really hard work.
Q: What’s it like winning awards?
A: It’s great. Better than not winning. It’s nice to be chosen.
Q: Where in the world do you want to go?
A: The Arctic Circle.
(Eyebrows are raised)
Q: What’s your favourite movie?
A: Hidden – it’s French. It blew my mind.
(Discussion on movies ensues for 10 minutes… Superman, Batman, Finding Nemo…)
Q: The character Piper, in How I Live Now, was she based on anyone?
A: She was sister you always wanted. There were four of us sisters in 4½ years, and we always argued. Piper was like a fantasy.
(Phone call; “Hi, I’ll call you back, Bye.”)
She has two dogs, by the way. It’s not relevant, but we’ve run out of questions.
And now, for just two quotes, [from Meg]
“Give your audience 2 + 2 and let them add it themselves.”
“If you love the book, you’ll love the person – it’s their personality.”
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