I'm just home from a Holocaust Memorial event at Akiva School here in Montreal. Students in Grades Four, Five, and Six did a moving presentation and I spoke briefly about my latest book, What World Is Left, since it is based on the story of my mum's experience in a Nazi concentrationcamp during the Holocaust.
I took some notes during the students' presentations. I was especially touched when a student named Rebecca spoke about the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. Rebecca said, "I try to picture six million people, but it is too many." Later, when I was talking about my book, I explained that for me, researching and writing about one person's story (my mum's) has been my way of making sense of the Holocaust.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Blue Metropolis, Montreal's annual literary festival. I'll be giving several talks and workshops, and going to as many other people's lectures and readings as I can. So expect to get lots of news from me over the next few days.
My first Blue Met event is a discussion of What World Is Left tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Jewish Public Library at 10 A.M. And guess what? My mum and dad are planning to come, too! My mother is nearly 80 and finds it painful to discuss her past, but every once in a while, I talk her into coming along to meet students. So, it's going to be a special day for all of us!
Here's a pic of me at Akiva School this morning, showing students the necklace that appears on the cover of What World Is Left.
Oops, where are my manners? I nearly forgot to thank my special friend Tina Roth, director of student services at Akiva School, for inviting me to take part in today's Holocaust Memorial event. Thanks, Tina -- and thanks, too, to the students for being such an attentive, interested audience.
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Comments
Hey Monique! Its me again (sorry to bother u if your busy) 2 mistakes again! lol hmmm lets see concentrationcamp and meeet lol. And i love writing and i sometimes edit some of my classmates work 4 fun if i have spare time. Today im reading a new book from the westmount library called homeless. And its great that your mum and dad are coming to where ever your going. Make sure to take some pictures with them! form your fan: Amber
Well that concentratiion camp was all one word is what seems to happen with my blog program. Two words always get jumbled together once in every blog entry. It has something to do with the "Read more" option. But thanks for finding the typo in meeting (only two e's!) and then I found that I had also misspelled "Blue" (I'd given it an extra o). And you know what -- I had already proofread, but missed those errors altogether. All this to say, Amber, you are good! I think you should become a professional writer and editor! And I'll definitely post a pic of my mum and dad in tomorrow's blog entry!
I'd better go make supper now and quit writing messages!!! I just want to correct the word "concentration" in my last comment. One "i" only! Tried to fix it directly, but I got stumped!