Ayelet Tsabari's Blog, page 12

A 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 w...

‘Yemeni Soup’ Nominated for a National Magazine Award and a Western Magazine Award!

I was thrilled to find out last week that Yemeni Soup and Other Recipes, a nonfiction piece about my mom, me, and food, was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the One of A kind Category. A few of my mentors and peers are nominated in different categories as well so I’m in great company. The piece was published in Grain Magazine last summer. Winners will be announced in their gala on June 7th, 2013. Then, the following day – another pleasant surprise! The piece was also nominated for a...

Photos from Spur Festival

Some photos from Spur Festival, taken by Biserka Livaja. Mostly an excuse to show my huge belly, a week before my due date. Up until the last minute I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it, but luckily, my baby decided to hang out for a couple more weeks…

Sean and my amazing publicist, Sonya Koson.

With Helen Walsh, the festival director and moderator of our talk.

The Best Place on Earth First Month Recap

Reading at Spur Festival

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 Eart...

CBC The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers

I am so excited to be on this week’s Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers on CBC. I recorded the short segment the morning after my launch, which meant that I could hardly sleep that night. Not only was I still buzzing from the amazing evening, I also had a case of ESL anxiety, which comes over me sometimes when I need to answer questions on the spot. I worry that my grammar will fail me, my vocabulary will abandon me, I’ll forget how to speak English and end up sounding inarticulate in a distinc...

The Best Place on Earth Longlisted for The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award!

The other day I woke up to peoplecongratulatingme on Twitter. Turns out The Best Place on Earth was long listed for the The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award! It is a long longlist (asEmma Donoghue, who is also listed, tweeted, “Such a long list that it’s more like a party!”) but it is exciting nevertheless. I’m one of ten Canadians on the list, and this year, the only Israeli. Other writers on the longlist include my literary crush Junot Diaz, Joyce Carol Oates, and my dear frien...

Let’s Do Brunch

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I’m excited to be a part of the inaugural Spur Festival, taking place on April 11-14 in Toronto (and in Winnipeg, as well, but Iwon’tbe there.)

I’ll be participating in ‘Well Read Mornings’ on April 13th, 11:30am, at the Gardiner Museum. This unique event will include a delicious brunch in the stunning Gardiner Café (in which I will be doing my best to avoid spilling food on my dress), a reading from The Best Place on Earth, and a discussion of the book with Helen Walsh, Spur Festival’s direct...

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...

Book Birthday Week

Signing books at Book City

My book and I had quite a week last week. Last Tuesday, March 19th, was my book birthday, the official publishing date I’ve been waiting over a year for. I went swimming that morning, a form of meditation, a way to calm down the swimming in my head. It helped. Then Sean and I visited two Book City stores and checked out my books on the display table, got to sign them and pose with them and smell them (I keep sniffing them; it’s becoming a problem). Then we went to Ch...

The Afterword

I was the guest editor for The National Post’s Afterword this week, which meant that I got to write four posts for their blog. I’m a big fan of The Afterword so it was especially exciting for me. I enjoyed writing the essays and reading the comments about them on Twitter. People have been so kind and supportive – I am humbled!

Here are the links to all four posts:

What Nobody Tells You – in which I describe the emotional rollercoaster publishing my book has been. It’s funny, because at my launc...