Anita Diamant

Much has been written about the success of Anita Diamant’s first novel, The Red Tent. But success didn’t come easily. When it was published in hardcover in 1997, it was well reviewed, but sold a disappointing 11,000 copies. The publisher was ready to destroy the unsold books, but Anita came up with a better idea: send those copies to some Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis. Using Anita’s list, the books went out and soon many of the rabbis were talking about the book, recommending it to their congregations. Then book clubs discovered The Red Tent  – and the rest is publishing history. Soon more than 500,000 copies were in print … and today, the book is available worldwide in 20 languages. If you haven’t read The Red Tent, it’s the story of the biblical character Dinah; she’s the only daughter of Jacob/Israel and his wife Leah. Little of Dinah’s story is mentioned In the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Chapter 34). Anita Diamant imagined the rest and told it in Dinah’s voice in The Red Tent. It’s a wonderful book – one of my all-time favorites. If you haven’t read The Red Tent, put it at the top of your “to-read” list. Good Harbor, a story about the friendship between two women in present-day Cape Ann, Massachusetts, exhibits the same wonderful storytelling as The Red Tent. Although I haven’t read The Last Days of Dogtown, in it the author returns to an earlier historical period, New England in the 1800s, and focuses on other little-known characters.

Books:

Fiction

Non-fiction

Author Profile:

I have been a writer for many years. Starting as a freelance journalist in the Boston area in 1975, I have written for many local magazines and newspapers, including the Boston Phoenix, the Boston Globe, and Boston Magazine. I branched out into regional and national media, with articles appearing in New England Monthly, Yankee, Self, Parenting, Parents, McCalls, and Ms.

Over the years, I wrote features and columns that covered a wide variety of topics, from profiles of prominent people, such as then-surgeon general C. Everett Koop, to first-person essays on being a mom.

Since 1985, I have also written about contemporary Jewish practice and the Jewish community, with articles in Reform Judaism magazine, Hadassah magazine, and for the webzine, www.jewishfamily.com.
 
In 1997, I published my first work of fiction, The Red Tent. The novel, which is based on chapter 34 in the biblical book of Genesis, has become a word-of-mouth bestseller. Thanks to reader recommendations, book groups, support from independent bookstores, and a boost from Reform Judaism Magazine, which named it a "Significant Jewish Book" in 1999, the book has gone into multiple paperback printings under the Picador imprint. There are also foreign editions in more than 20 countries world-wide, including Australia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. In 2001, the independent booksellers alliance, Booksense, honored The Red Tent as its "Best Fiction" selection. I am so grateful for their support and encourage you to support your independent bookstore.

Good Harbor, my second novel, is a contemporary story - and thus very different from The Red Tent. However, it also explores the importance of women's friendships as a source of strength and happiness. It has been published in seven countries around the world, including Australia, Denmark, Israel, Portugal, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia. Good Harbor is a frequent book group selection (thanks so much!) and a reading group guide is included in the paperback edition.

My newest book and third novel is titled, The Last Days of Dogtown. Like The Red Tent, it retells and reinvents an obscure chapter of history from the point of view of "minor" characters. Set on Cape Ann in the early 1800s, The Last Days of Dogtown describes life in a poor, rural community inhabited by widows, spinsters and other marginal women, freed Africans, and orphan children.

On a personal note: My early childhood was spent in Newark, New Jersey, but my family moved to Denver, Colorado when I was 12 years old. I attended the University of Colorado for two years and then transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where I received a Bachelor's degree in comparative literature. I earned a Master's Degree in English from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and then moved to the Boston area, where I have lived ever since. I am married and have one grown daughter.

In the last few years, I've been deeply involved in a very different sort of creative project, building a new resource for Jewish spiritual renewal. Click here to read more about Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center or check out www.mayyimhayyim.org to learn more about how the ancient ritual of immersion is being embraced by 21st century Jews.

Profile adapted from the author’s website; photo by Marion Ettlinger, used with permission.

Author’s website: www.anitadiamant.com

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Diamant