Literary Modiin - April 2021 Author Event

About Edna Shemesh's Amstel:

A mother invites her son for a glass of Amstel beer, drunkenly reveals a part of her life that would have better remained hidden; a girl who’s almost a woman habitually bites the back of her hand until it bleeds to calm herself, and believes she’s found love; a man, alone, meets a young woman and boy on the beach and feels suddenly hopeful; a pregnant woman in Jerusalem and her Palestinian cleaning lady draw closer until the intifada tests their relationship; a woman exits her house momentarily into the night chill, the entrance door slams behind her and she has nowhere to go except to the small bonfire Palestinian workers from the occupied territories have kindled nearby – these are some of the diverse characters populating the stories in Amstel.

About Haviva Ner-David's Hope Valley:

Hope Valley is the story of two women, one Jewish-Israeli and one Palestinian-Israeli, who come together to form the unlikeliest of friendships. Tikvah and Ruby, who both carry familial and collective trauma, meet one day in the Galilean valley that separates the segregated villages in which the two women live. At first Ruby befriends Tikvah to retrieve the diary her late father left in his childhood home, which is now Tikvah's house on the moshav that stands on the ruins of Ruby's father's village that was destroyed in 1948. But as the women connect on a human level, a bond grows between them. In Hope Valley we meet two strong women from nations in conflict, who circle each other and, in recognizing each other's pain, offer us hope that fear and resentment can grow into love.

About Rachel Neve-Midbar's Salaam of Birds:

"With SALAAM OF BIRDS, Rachel Neve-Midbar takes her place in the front rank of those in our generation who are telling the Jewish and Israeli story. She carries the pain of this land, but also its beauty and comfort. These are poems to be read and read again, first as literature, finally as prayer."--Yossi Klein Halevi