Parallel Lines: The Launch
On July 9, 2023, less than a month after Parallel Lines hit bookshelves, I held my official book launch at the beautiful and ancient site of the Tower of David Museum.
Set against the golden Jerusalem stone, the venue was most fitting for a novel that not only tells the story of life in a conflicted and divided city but also tells the story of that city. Many readers of Parallel Lines have commented on how Jerusalem is the fourth main character in Parallel Lines, alongside Tamar, Nour and Rivki.
The event, which drew around 100 friends, family members and colleagues, was hosted by Jerusalem Report editor Steve Linde and my special guest was now former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.
In a reversal of roles, Ambassador Nides interviewed me about my journey turning fact into fiction and depicting life for young people in Jerusalem. It was a lively conversation and a very special evening that I will never forget.
Jerusalem Report Editor-in-Chief Steve Linde hosted the event, with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides.
Ruth's speech
Hi everyone,
Firstly, thank you ambassador nides for coming. Kinda weird that you interviewed me for a change, but I guess as I have discovered in this city, life is always filled with interesting surprises.
It's weird being here, doing this book launch, and sending the tens of thousands of words that I wrote out into the world. I mean, it's not the first time in my life that I am publishing my stories, as most of you know, I have written for some of the world’s leading media outlets and had my words read by millions of people but for some reason, publishing a book, this book, Parallel Lines, feels different.
I think someone described it as “being in front of an audience naked” and I really feel that vulnerability with this book experience. This book was written from my heart, from deep down in my soul and is more me, I guess, than anything else I have written and published in my life – and there’s a lot of stuff out there….
So I really appreciate that all of you have turned out this evening to support me in this new journey of being an author. I really appreciate you coming, being here with me, and buying the book, of course. And if you do read it – I promise not to check, well I might check, a-type personality and all – but if you do read it and like, please, please, please recommend it to friends and review it on Amazon or GoodReads, etc.
And if you don’t like it, or don’t like parts of it, that’s fine too – happy to discuss it all with you.
Anyway, now, I just want to say a few special thank yous to those of you who have really been there for me on this long, arduous and sometimes painful journey.
Of course, thank you to Mike for making me tea in the morning and putting up with me through all those hours that I was writing – and helping me with the promotion, marketing, and planning of this event.
Thank you to Ben, Gefen and Ela, who were essentially the inspiration for this book and especially to Gefen and her friends from the Nisui, who made me realize how much this story needed to be told. All of you together helped me shape the character of Tamar.
Thank you to Ada, for listening to my ideas about writing and helping me reach young Palestinian women to hear their stories and experiences about life in Jerusalem to create Nour and to Tzippy Yarom-Diskind, Tali Chason, my hairdresser and the other women who helped me to figure out Rivki.
Thank you to my early readers who encouraged me, Alon, Melissa – my Jewish Insider editor who is not here, Steve and others who helped me get the book in better shape and gave invaluable feedback.
A big thank you to Max Neuberger and Jewish Insider for supporting me and sponsoring this event. Cheers.
I would also like to say a big thank you to Caroline Shapiro – who is not here tonight but without who’s help none of this would have happened. And thank you to Eilat and the museum staff for making this event run so smoothly.
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Author event
In January, I had the privilege of addressing an audience in Modiin (and online), together with authors Janice Weizman and Jennifer Lang.
It was a wonderful event, if a bit rainy, where we talked about the process of writing and publishing in the current environment.
