I’m still reeling from the overwhelming turn out for the launch of We Are Their Voice: Young people respond to the Holocaust. I couldn’t keep exact count, but there were hundreds of people crammed (and I do mean CRAMMED) into the conference space at the Northern District public library in Toronto. Many of the young people who wrote stories and drew pictures for We Are Their Voice travelled in for the launch, along with their families, neighbours, teachers, and friends. A young man who wrote a story for the book later emailed me and said, “The launch today, though jam-packed with bodies, was also jam-packed with a contagious energy striving to remember, in all ways possible, this dark period in our history.” It was the perfect response to the day!
My heartfelt thanks go out to all of you who have been part of this remarkable project! It’s been a memorable two years. I continue to say that of my 16 books, I’m perhaps proudest of this one - and I hardly wrote a word! But this book fulfills my personal mandate to pass the torch of responsibility for remembering this time in history on to the next generation. I’m so proud of everyone involved!
And now, on to the next book. Stay tuned!

I have a tree in my backyard that is bright orange at this time. It’s beautiful! It also reminds me that winter is just around the corner. But before that happens, I’m so excited to tell you that I have a new book that is coming out. It’s called We Are Their Voice: Todays’ youth respond to the Holocaust. This book is a collection of short stories about the Holocaust that have been written by young people across Canada, parts of the U.S., Italy, and Australia.

This all began as a writing project a couple of years ago. I sent out a call around the world for meaningful stories about the Holocaust, and 45 schools responded. I received over 250 submissions of which 85 have been published in this book, along with a dozen drawings. I’m so proud of this new book and the writing that has been done by the young people who contributed.

And more good news! We are launching We Are Their Voice on Sunday, November 4 from 2-4 p.m. at the Northern District Toronto Public Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd. (near Yonge and Eglinton). I’ll be joined by a number of the young people who wrote stories for the book. It should be a fantastic event. So please come out, meet these young writers, and join in the celebration of the launch of this book.

Hi everyone,
Happy spring! Yes, I know it still feels a bit chilly out there, but I think spring is here! Whether you celebrated Easter or Passover, I hope it was a wonderful time with family and friends.

My big news is that I am leaving tomorrow (April 13) for a book tour to Brazil. Four of my books are being published there by Callis Books, and they have invited me for the launch. I will be visiting a number of schools where I will speak to young people about my stories. I’ll also have the chance to talk at a children’s book festival in Rio de Janeiro. I’ll be talking about The Secret of Gabi’s Dresser, Clara’s War, The Diary of Laura’s Twin, and The Underground Reporters. I’ll be back in nine days.

I’m so excited!! It’s remarkable to me that young people in countries around the world are reading my books and learning something about the history of the Holocuast. I’ll let you know how it all goes. I hope to do some touring in Rio and Sao Paolo as well.

Stay tuned for photos and updates. Next time, I’ll tell you about the progress of my latest book!!

Hope the next weeks are productive for all of you - and fun, of course.

Keep reading!

I’m proud and excited to announce the publication of my new book for young readers, To Hope and Back: The Journy of the St. Louis. This luxury ocean liner left Germany in 1939 carrying almost 1000 Jewish passengers. They were all hoping to find freedom across the ocean, away from the Nazi regime that was threatening them. Not one country in North or South America (including Canada) would permit the ship to land. It was finally forced to return to Europe where over one third of its passengers eventually perished in the Holocaust. This book documents the journey of the St. Louis and the story of two of its passengers. Lisa Avedon and Sol Messinger were children on board the ship. They were among the lucky ones to survive. To Hope and Back is another book in the Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers, published by Second Story Press.
I’ll be talking about this new book during Holocaust Education Week here in Toronto in November. I’ll let you know the details as they develop.
Hope you all have a chance to read this remarkable story!

First of all, to those of you who are celebrating Easter, I hope it’s joyous celebration. And to those who have recently celebrated Passover, I hope your seders were wonderful!

Well here’s the exciting news! I recently found out that the play I wrote last summer with my son, Jake Epstein, has been accepted into the “In the Beginning Playwrights Festival” with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company here in Toronto. We will have the opportunity to have the play workshopped for a full day and then we will have a public staged reading with professional actors and director. The play is called Therefore Choose Life and is based on a true story of a man who survives the Auschwitz concentration camp thinking he lost his first wife there. He comes to Canada, remarries, has a son, and twenty-five years later, his first wife resurfaces! Yes, it’s quite a story!

The staged reading of Therefore Choose Life will take place on Tuesday June 14 at the Al Green Theatre (Miles Nadal JCC). It’s free and open to the public. Once I have more details I will be sure to let you all know. So, stay tuned as I begin a new and exciting writing chapter in my life!

Yes, I’m still talking about my adult book, Restitution, and still loving the opportunity to share this remarkable story. Tonight I am speaking at Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto. Here are the details:
Where: 210 Wilson Avenue (just west of Avenue Road)
When: 8:00 p.m.
This event is sponsored by Na’amat Canada in Toronto, an organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of women and children. Tonight I am their guest speaker for their yearly “Sharon Cole Memorial Evening.”
Some of you have written to me to say that you have tried to get to my recent events and have not been able. Here’s another chance to hear me speak about this book.
Hope to see many of you there!

This Sunday November 14, I will be speaking as part of Books and Brunch, a reading series hosted and sponsored by Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge. The event this Sunday will be at Wyndance Golf Club at 11:00 a.m. I’ll be talking about my book, Restitution, but I’m sharing the podium (or is it the armchair!!) with Allison Pick whose recent novel, Far To Go also tells the story of an affluent Jewish family on the verge of the Second World War.
By the way, if you’ve never been to Blue Heron Books, you MUST take a drive there. As their website suggests (www.blueheronbooks.com), this charming bookstore (owned and run by Shelley Macbeth) is a hub of literary events, readings, and happenings for young and not so young!
I hope to see many of you at the golf club on Sunday! Come and chat with me after the event.

Hi everyone,
If you didn’t have a chance to hear me during Holocaust Education Week, I wanted to let you know that I have more sceduled talks coming up. Here are a few that are open to the public.
Sunday November 7: I will be speaking at St. Peter’s Anglican Church (Erindale), 1745 Dundas St. W at 9:15 and 11:00 a.m.
The eh List Author Series: I will be speaking at the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St. on November 9 at 12:30 p.m.
Na’amat Canada: I will be speaking at Temple Sinai Congregation, 210 Wilson Ave. on November 22 at 8:00 p.m.
And if you live in the Windsor area, I will be speaking there at there Jewish Community Centre, 1641 Oullette on November 15 at 8:00 p.m.
Most of these talk are about Restitution, my adult book. You can also have a chance to hear me talk about Restitution tonight, Thursday November 4 on Global TV at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. I was interviewed for this piece, along with Karl Reeser, the man I write about in Restitution. The journalist who interviewed us taped us for almost two hours! I am curious to see how she is able to reduce that to a piece that will only be about 5 minutes! Watch and you will see too.
Hope to meet many of you at my talks!

Hi everyone!
Next week is Holocaust Education Week (November 1-9) and the program is impressive. The theme this year is “We Who Survived.” With that in mind, I am scheduled to talk about my latest book, Restitution. It is the story of one family’s journey to reclaim four beautiful oil paintings that were lost during the Holocaust. Many of you were there for the launch of this book in May. This time, I will be talking about the story in more detail, complete with a slide presentation. Karl Reeser, the man whose story is documented in Restitution, will also be there to speak and answer questions.
Here are the details:
Date: Tuesday, November 2
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Beth Torah Congregation, 47 Glenbrook Avenue
Hope to see many of you there!
If you want to see a list of all the programs being presented during Holocaust Education Week, you can go to their website, www.holocausteducationweek.com

My summer has been filled with many wonderful things! Hope yours was the same.
First and foremost, I spent most of the summer doing the thing which I love most and that is writing. I wrote and wrote and wrote, and when I was finished writing one thing, I wrote some more. I have a new thinking place in the backyard– a big lounge chair shaped like a bucket (if you can imagine!) I think I did my best writing there.
A couple of projects on the go– one of them (one I am really quite excited about) is a play I have written with none other than my son Jake Epstein. How amazing that I have the opportunity to work on a creative project with my very own son! The play is called “Therefore Choose Life” and it is about Joseph– a Holocaust survivor who remarried after the war only to discover that his first wife, Chava– a woman he thought he had lost in the gas chambers is actually alive. We did a table read with some very talented actors including my wonderful daughter, Gabi Epstein (yup, she’s named after my mother, Gabi).
The other writing project I’m working on is a book called Voices of Remembrance: Today’s Youth Respond to the Holocaust, which will ask young people from across the country to write about the Holocaust. Their essays will be included in a book to be published by Second Story Press. If you are a teacher or teacher/librarian, interested in having your students participate, write to me and I will send the information
And finally, I’M ON FACEBOOK! I didn’t think I’d do it, but I did. And I’m looking for friends! I still don’t exactly know how that whole world works but my daughter is helping me out. Saw “The Social Network” and was hooked. Hopefully I will see you all in cyberspace!
That’s it for now! Please check back for updates about our play, “Therefore Choose Life” as well as the “Voices” project. I think it’s going to be a very exciting year.
Cheers!
Kathy