Marlene Samuel's work appears in Lilith Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, ReadyMade Magazine, University of Iowa Summer Writing Anthology, Story Circle Anthology, A Long Story Short, and L.A. Review, among others. She co-authored and edited her mother’s WWII memoir, The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival, Penguin-Berkley Press. She is at work now on other books and has conducted research for a sociological study about women’s decision making processes in midlife. She is a consultant at the A Room Of Her Own Foundation's Ghost Ranch Writer's Retreat in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Visit her at marlenesamuels.com
Each year, exactly two weeks before Hanukkah and beginning the year our family immigrated to the U.S.A., Aunt Esther and Mom began their debates. We had moved to a suburb only a fifteen-minute drive from Esther, my mother’s sister. The … Continue reading →
Things that Go Grrrr in the Night by Marlene Samuels One particular year, Beggar’s Night fell on a Saturday. As luck would have it, it also was the Saturday evening our parents had, uncharacteristically, left us home alone longer than … Continue reading →
When Marlene Samuels found a publisher for her deceased mother’s World War II memoir, The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival, her editor at Penguin-Berkeley had two conditions. She would have to ensure the accuracy of all the book’s facts (the names of every town and city in Eastern Europe during the early 1900’s up to … Continue reading →