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Sulima Malzin

Goodreads Author

Born

in Southington, Connecticut, The United States

Website

https://sulimamalzin.net

Genre

Poetry, Memoir, Cookbooks

Member Since

April 2023

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/sulimamalzin

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For more than 70 years Sulima Malzin has found writing (in Toni Morrison’s words) to be a way of … not just feeling, but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic, or just sweet. She considers herself lucky to have been able to learn through direct experience, and not without scars, to accept Life with a capital L on its own terms for the bittersweet journey that it is … a fragile weave of light & dark, joy & sorrow, grace & grit … and to write about it using words that both trudge and dance.

Born in 1939 in rural Connecticut to a Russian mother and German father during a time when ethnic prejudice, racism, and misogyny ran high, Sulima grew up thinking of herself as something akin to a “political prisoner For more than 70 years Sulima Malzin has found writing (in Toni Morrison’s words) to be a way of … not just feeling, but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic, or just sweet. She considers herself lucky to have been able to learn through direct experience, and not without scars, to accept Life with a capital L on its own terms for the bittersweet journey that it is … a fragile weave of light & dark, joy & sorrow, grace & grit … and to write about it using words that both trudge and dance.

Born in 1939 in rural Connecticut to a Russian mother and German father during a time when ethnic prejudice, racism, and misogyny ran high, Sulima grew up thinking of herself as something akin to a “political prisoner.” But this was not the storyline she wanted to follow, and once what she calls her ancestral resilience kicked in and partnered up with the unrelenting curiosity she seemed to have been born with, Sulima found herself opening windows that offered views of a more vibrant landscape.

Although she has written almost since she learned to read, she describes herself as one who came late to the party, not having begun writing for an audience until the late ‘90s and even then without the academic credentials that most writers claim today … no MFA, no Iowa Writer’s Workshop, just a few enriching weekends here and there with guides like Natalie Goldberg, Jean Houston, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Naomi Shihab Nye, and the late Grace Paley.

Her three recently self-published books, Words That Dance, a small volume of (mostly) poetry, Arms Filled With Bittersweet, a hybrid memoir, and All in the Soup Together … Four Seasons of Recipes & Reflections, are palimpsest collections of what was, what is, and what might have been.

Following her retirement from 20 plus years working in the field of addiction recovery and another 15 in eldercare, Sulima has in recent years, facilitated weekend retreats, daylong workshops, and now in “covid times,” online writing adventures for other aging rascals and occasional writers who are curious to discover where their writing might take them. ...more

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Sulima Malzin’s books

Average rating: 5.0 · 7 ratings · 1 review · 4 distinct works

	Arms Filled with Bittersweet it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Words That Dance it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	All in the Soup Together ... Four Seasons of Recipes & Reflections it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tributaries: Poems of Homage & Gratitude it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Sulima Malzin's Blog: Weekly Words from Sulima, herSelf

Time to Tear off the Roof & Take a Peek

When we tear off the roof, we open a new window on the world, Yes? Last week my daughter and I visited the Portland Nordic Center’s Troll Exhibit and fell in love with this giant guy. What an amazing piece of work! And his eyes …. Oh my Goodness! This particular photo (my favorite) reminded me of words about windows that I recently read by Pavithra Mehta.

“I believe windows are celebrated in

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Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

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This group now has a Discord! https://discord.gg/QC8vCNfzKa I would encourage everyone to join as it will become a primary hub for book-of-the-month d ...more

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Boomer Lit, boomer novels, short stories, memoirs and more are here: a new genre. Let's talk about it! When boomers reached their teens in the 1960s ...more

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Book Nook Cafe is the place to be if you love to discuss books. We also chat about films, TV, music, health, theater, and more. Participation is en ...more

Shine & Shadow — 813 members — last activity Aug 26, 2026 03:38PM
Welcome to Shine & Shadow. We are a group focused on monthly group reads and discussions. We have 3 group reads on a rotating monthly basis: 1 'Dark' ...more

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Everyone has a story to tell. This is a group to discuss the many types of biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. If it's a true life story, it bel ...more

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