Blog

A Book Tour on the Eve of Coronavirus
A Book Tour on the Eve of Coronavirus January – February 2020 In what now feels like a different age on a different planet

Reflections on solidarity in the time of coronavirus
March 18, 2020 The photo of a large, multi-storied cruise ship docked in Havana harbor lit up my internet feed today and underlines, for

Dispatches from Havana
La Llegada (The Arrival) Another trip to Cuba. I begin the crazy dance of preparation by ticking off items on the list of necessities I

Lanzando en La Habana (Launching in Havana)
Lanzando en la Habana (Launching in Havana) My book launch in Cuba takes place at Cuba Libro, a wonderful plant and book-filled oasis on the

Interview with author in Lilith Magazine
After Loss, a Devotion to Those Afflicted by AIDS Not long after nurse and public health activist Elena Schwolsky’s husband, Clarence Fitch, died of AIDS

Family Recipes: A Thanksgiving Story
It was the first Thanksgiving after my father’s death. The gathering of family from coast to coast that once seemed both automatic and mandatory was

Ruby’s Rugelach Recipe
Alas…the dough-stained index card with Freida Scheinkaupf’s recipe has faded and disappeared, but here is my mother Ruby’s recipe—not for the faint of heart! Ruby’s

Q & A with Deborah Kalb
Q: You note that you worked on this book on and off for 20 years. Why did you initially decide to write the book, and

Good Grief Podcast––October 23, 2019
When Elena Schwolsky’s husband was diagnosed with AIDS, the work she had been doing as a nurse for kids with AIDS suddenly came home. After

Out of the File Drawer and Onto the Page
I didn’t set out to write a memoir, or a book, or even a story. The scraps of memory that eventually became Waking in Havana began to surface