f you are reading this, you’ve got through another year. And what a year it’s been for me. Some lows but lots of highs.

In February I signed a publishing contract with Amsterdam Publishers for my memoir Out From the Shadows.

In March, I began interviewing descendants of Holocaust survivors for my next book project on intergenerational trauma. Those interviews wrapped in October following an exhausting 97 interviews.

Holocaust Remembrance Day took place in May. I was invited to speak at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Temple Har Zion. I also mentally crashed and decided to take the month of June off.

In July, although unpublished, Out From the Shadows was runner up for the best memoir at the New York Book Festival.

In August, I spent several days in Washington DC and had the opportunity to visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It turned out to be much more difficult than my first visit in 1998.

The World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants held their annual conference in Toronto in September and I had the opportunity to attend. I met numerous people I had interviewed in previous months as well as make some new contacts. I signed a contract to be represented by Bonnie Swanson of FinePrint Literary Management for my next book, The Hidden Victims.

In October, I had my first podcast interviews to promote my books. I’ve now completed 9 interviews with another 8 scheduled. This is a link to my MEDIA page on my website where all the interviews can be found.

November was Holocaust Education Week in Toronto and I was invited to speak at Beth Torah synagogue. But the big event in November was the release of Out From the Shadows. The launch was a huge success with about 80 attendees.

At the end of 2024 my memoir has been well received and spent 10 weeks as Amazon’s top new Holocaust memoir. The success of this book has been well beyond my expectations. It is now in the libraries in Holocaust museums in Toronto, Washington DC, and Vancouver.

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What are some of my plans for 2025?

1. I’m planning an online workshop on memoir writing.
2. I hope to complete a first draft of The Hidden Victims by the end of the summer. I’ve already written 8,000 words.
3. I’m hoping that my agent can find a publisher for The Hidden Victims.
4. I’m pursuing opportunities to make a documentary out of The Hidden Victims.
5. I’m going to South Africa.

Finally, I want to wish everyone a safe, health and prosperous 2025.