Episode 59: Helene Wecker
On Using the Fantastic to Write a Human Story
Helene Wecker’s Five Books:
1. The Bible, Book of Exodus
2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
3. Orbital by Samantha Harvey
4. That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist by Sylvia Boorstein
5. The Gates of Midnight by Helene Wecker
The Five Books is a podcast that celebrates the role of books in Jewish culture. Through author interviews, we delve into Jewish identity and discover each author’s favorite novels. Join us every week for new Jewish book recommendations! Some of our episodes have included conversations with Rabbi Sharon Brous, Sam Sussman, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Allegra Goodman.
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Hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
Produced by Odelia Rubin
Editorial and website support by Aimee Fogel
Artwork by Elad Lifshitz of the Dov Abramson Studio
Music by Dov Rosenblatt and Blue Dot Sessions
In this conversation, we’ll talk about how Helene transformed her family’s history into myth, how her childhood as a Jewish, nerdy sci-fi fan and her experience of passing and hiding in plain sight made it into the character of Chava, the golem, and we’ll discuss why writing historical fantasy gave her the opening to explore the big questions of what it means to be human.
Helene Wecker was in the midst of an MFA program, writing a realistic collection of short stories about the legacy of immigration and her relationship with her Arab-American husband, when a friend challenged her to use the fantastic and to tell a larger story. That was how Helene Wecker’s first novel, The Golem and the Jinni, was born. The novel was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, the VCU Cabell Award for First Novel, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, and was nominated for a Nebula Award and a World Fantasy Award.
Helene Wecker’s work has appeared in literary journals such as Joyland and Catamaran, as well as the fantasy anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.
Also Mentioned:
"The Golem" by Naomi Kritzer (from the collection Comrade Grandmother and other stories)
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