Meryl chats with Robert Yaffe about his 2024 memoir, Relinquished, which chronicles his 30-year search to discover his closed adoption roots. He shares his emotional and circuitous journey, its impact on his Jewish adoptive parents, and the new family he ultimately discovered. Robert is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. He holds a BA from the University of Nebraska and graduated from Creighton Law School. After working as an attorney for several years, he served as an executive director of both Jewish Community Centers and synagogues. Relinquished: A mother’s choice and my 30-year journey to find m ..read more

To celebrate the one year anniversary of SHADOWS WE CARRY, please enjoy this encore presentation of Meryl Ain in conversation with avid readers and activists in the Jewish community, Randi Brenowitz and Bayla Lovens. Shadows We Carry is the sequel to Meryl's award-winning debut novel, The Takeaway Men. Randi Brenowitz has just been elected to her second term as the International President of the Board of the Melton School for Adult Jewish Learning. Bayla Lovens has been involved in working in the Jewish Community, both professionally and as a volunteer, for most of her life. Meryl Ain is a wri ..read more

Meryl chats with Michelle about her new novel, Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity (September 12, 2023). They discuss how Michelle came to write about the Biblical saga of the Babylonian exile, and its meaning for today. They also talk about historical fiction and Michelle’s writing and research process. Michelle is the award-winning author of several works of historical fiction and poetry including Beyond the Ghetto Gates, The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz, and In the Shadow of the Globe. Her new novel, Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity is the multi-generational Bibli ..read more

Renee Weingarten, founder of the Facebook group, Renee’s Reading Club, chats with Meryl Ain about her new Historical Fiction novel, Shadows We Carry, the sequel to her award-winning debut novel, The Takeaway Men. The program was a special presentation of the Peninsula Public Library in Lawrence, LI, where Renee is a librarian.. Renee Weingarten is a librarian at Peninsula Public Library in Lawrence, LI and the founder of the Facebook group, Renee’s Reading Club, which has more than 43,600 members. Meryl Ain is a writer, author, career educator and host of the podcast, People of the Book. The T ..read more

Meryl chats with Susan Weidman Schneider, editor-in-chief of Lilith Magazine, about the anthology she co-edited, Frankly Feminist, which features 44 short stories that have been published in Lilith over the past 45 years. They also discuss the history and mission of Lilith Magazine and Susan’s role as editor-in-chief, since its launch in 1976. One of Lilith’s founding mothers, Susan has been editor-in-chief of the magazine since it launched in 1976. Lilith’s mission is to be the feminist change-agent in and for the Jewish community. Susan’s writing about Jewish women’s philanthropy, the Jewish ..read more

Meryl Ain chats with Claudia Long about her 2023 novel, Our Lying Kin, the sequel to Nine Tenths of the Law. Both books are about two sisters who seek to solve mysteries and uncover family secrets. They talk about the relationship of sisters, the weight of family secrets, and the writing process. Claudia Hagadus Long is an author, a lawyer-mediator, a wife, mother, grandmother, and cook. She’s written books about Jewish women living as Catholics in colonial Mexico, and professional female writers struggling to effect change in early 20th Century California. And now, with Nine Tenths of the Law ..read more

Meryl chats with Linda Pressman about her memoir, Jewish Girls Gone Wild, a coming-of-age story about her life in Arizona after her parents transplant their family of seven daughters from Skokie, Illinois. Linda shares her journey from outsider and rebel to rediscovering her Jewish roots. Linda Pressman is the author of the recently published memoir, Jewish Girls Gone Wild. Her previous memoir, Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors and Skokie won the Grand Prize in the Writer’s Digest 20th Annual Contest and is part of the permanent collections of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocau ..read more

Enjoy this encore presentation: Meryl chats with Rabbi Menachem Creditor about his insights as part of the recent UJA-Federation mission to Israel, the impact of October 7 on Jews throughout the world, and the global increase in antisemitism. They also discuss his new book, Am Yisrael Chai: Essays, Poems, and Prayers for Israel, which was published on October 17. Rabbi Menachem Creditor serves as the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York and was the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence. An acclaimed author, scholar, and speaker with over 3 million views of his o ..read more

Meryl chats with Kitty Zeldis about her 2022 novel, The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights, which takes readers into the lives of three very different women living in Brooklyn during The Roaring Twenties. In this lively conversation, they discuss the themes of the book, including female vulnerability, pregnancy, religious intolerance, and the relationship of mothers and daughters. Born in Israel, Kitty Zeldis is the pen name of a Brooklyn-based author of nine novels and almost 40 books for children.  Her new historical novel, The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights, was published in December. He ..read more

Meryl chats with Nora Gold about JewishFiction.net, the prestigious online literary journal, which she founded and is the editor-in-chief. In addition, they discuss her three books, The Dead Man, Fields of Exile, and Marrow and Other Stories. They also talk about wide-ranging topics related to literature, including the definition of “a Jewish book”. Nora is a prize-winning writer and the author of three books: Marrow and Other Stories (winner of a Canadian Jewish Book Award), Fields of Exile (winner of the 2015 Canadian Jewish Literary Award), and The Dead Man (published in 2016, which was awa ..read more