228: Inserting Ourselves into the Story (with Rena Rossner)

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We chat with author Rena Rossner about her new book, inserting ourselves into historical fiction, the fairy tales of her youth, and looking beyond the golem in Jewish folktales. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Content Warning:</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">This episode contains conversations about or mentions of antisemitism, leprosy/illness, pandemic, conflict/war, bigotry, cultural erasure, and misogyny. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Guest</strong></p> <p><a href="https://renarossner.weebly.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Rena Rossner</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">hails from Miami Beach, Florida. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University's Writing Seminars program, Trinity College, Dublin, and she holds a MA in history from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Her debut novel,</span> <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/822/9780316483360"><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Sisters of the Winter Wood</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, was listed as "One of the 100 Best Books" of the year by Publisher's Weekly. She currently lives in Israel, where she works as a Literary Agent at The Deborah Harris Agency. Her grandparents and great grandparents immigrated to the USA from Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova - their stories, together with her love of Jewish mythology and fantasy, inspire her work. Her most recent book is</span> <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/822/9780316483469"><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Light of the Midnight Stars</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which is now available. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Housekeeping</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">Recommendation</span><span style= "font-weight: 400;">: This week, Amanda recommends</span> <a href= "https://www.realm.fm/shows/gods-and-lies"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Gods & Lies from Realm</span></a><span style="font-weight: