My Life As A Jew
My book is six months old. It was published in Australia on October 3 and launched at a bookshop in St Kilda on October 5. Lots of people came along. More than 100 I reckon. It was a festive occasion. Two days later came the Hamas massacres.
I have written scores of articles since October 7. Most of them were about journalism and the way journalism, in my view, was changing—for the worse—and about how the ethical principles which I thought defined good journalism were being traduced.
I have spoken to many hundreds of people, at Jewish and non-Jewish events and given that I am not too modest, many people told me that my book resonated with them, that the story of my life as a Jew had parallels in the story of their lives. Jews and non-Jews.
But I have not appeared at any of the big writers’ festivals, not Adelaide Writers’ Week for reasons that are not a mystery, though I did write to Louise Adler and ask to be put on the program and in response I was told by the program director that Book Week was full of writers and therefore there was no room for me. Nor was I invited to the Sydney or Melbourne writers’ festivals. Ok, yes, lots of writers don’t make festivals so okay, perhaps in the estimation of these festival directors, I had written an uninteresting book and had nothing interesting to say.
I was however invited to the Manly Writers’ Festival and it was there at this lovely and lively festival a few weeks ago, that the ABC recorded my session with former ABC senior journalist and foreign correspondent Michael Brissenden. It was broadcast on Radio National’s Big Ideas program a couple of days ago. I think it is a good interview. The questions are sometimes tough. Sometimes they imply things that I do not agree with but so what? He made me think. He asked questions I had not previously been asked.
I am posting the Big Ideas podcast here. Six months after my book was published. There have been horrifying developments in the war in Gaza since the podcast but what I say in the interview remains how I feel and what I think. Six months after my book My Life as a Jew was published.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/bigideas/michael-gawenda-jewishness-australian-left-israel-gaza/103551574
What a pity they didn't take you on for AWW you would have been a good change from the flood of ABC staff and ex staffers. However I guess the pro Palestinian mob would have done their best to shut you down. It was good to see some leadership at WOMAD where a prominent supporter of Israel was not dumped from the program despite significant agitation.
it is an absolutely brilliant book, i used a very rare technique of underlining thoughts that were insightful and novel and resonated with me also a secular jew. Then so incredibly prescient as it was published before Oct 7 but as if after. . i look forward to listening to the pod cast.