HOMAGE TO ROCHELLE A. MURRAY

From 1968 until July 31, 2022, I had one librarian.

At the start, when I was five, racing into the Davenport Public Library weekly, the overdue fines piled up fast. But Miss. Murray never refused to check out a book to me. She kept a quiet tally, trusting someday I would settle up.

More than fifty years later, she was still on the job, aiding research involved in writing projects, sending me notes like this:

“The Special Collections Department had the enclosed information I thought you would like to have.”

Rochelle played an important role in the local writing community that offered me a safe and inspiring haven when I had no other hopeful place to go as a troubled teenager in Urban Iowa. She was a staunch advocate of literacy, a gentle warrior the world is weaker without.

To read more about her remarkable life, follow the link below.

WYSO BOOK NOOK INTERVIEW

Recently I had a wide-ranging conversation addressing various literary projects with Vick Mickunas, host of the NPR author interview show Book Nook.

Click this link to access the interview:

https://www.wyso.org/podcast/book-nook/2022-05-10/book-nook-full-of-hunger-and-full-of-bread-the-world-of-jura-soyfer-1912-1939-by-dorothy-james-edited-by-ben-miller

Click this link to access a related review of Full of Hunger and Full of Bread: The World of Jura Soyfer 1912-1939

https://www.journal-news.com/lifestyles/the-world-of-jura-soyfer-tells-story-of-jewish-teen-who-fled-ukraine-in-1920s/DFRPUG7DMFEPTMQBJYFSUZ5Y6M/

ESSAY IN NEW ENGLAND REVIEW

“The Sweet Science of Socks”—an extended meditation on the craft of marriage—appears in the Summer 2022 issue of New England Review.

To hear a reading of an excerpt of the essay tap the link below:

To learn more about the issue follow this link:

To order the issue at a discount, follow this link:

https://newenglandreviewsubscriptions.submittable.com/submit/f6661081-c71d-430b-9f25-da8cb1de9bf6/friends-family-discount