Over at The Jewish Daily Forward, FWR Contributing Editor Erika Dreifus has written a moving piece about the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics of 1972 and how this event found their way into her fiction. Erika writes about how her classmates challenged her use of this history:
When I workshopped “Homecomings,” several classmates thought that my inclusion of the 1972 Munich Olympics was extraneous. The story of Jewish refugees returning to their homeland was “powerful enough,” they argued. My story “didn’t need” the added layer of history I’d given it. Incredulous, I broke the cardinal workshop rule and spoke up. “Munich stays,” I said, before the instructor had the chance to calm me.
You can read the whole essay, “Remembering Munich, in Fact and Fiction“—as well as why Erika decided to keep the historical events in the story—at the Forward’s blog, the Arty Semite.
Further Reading:
- Did you catch Erika’s picks for new July titles?
- You can also read more of Erika’s work on FWR, or visit her excellent blog Practicing Writing.
