Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write in English, French and Hebrew. Raised in France, I lived in Israel, in a kibbutz and in Jerusalem. After 40 years I immigrated to the United States in 2003. My parents were Holocaust survivors. I have a sister in France, she is the daughter of my dad who was married with my mom’s sister, who died in Auschwitz, like all my parents family. I chose the kibbutz life at the age of 18 and left after 20 years, for Jerusalem where I met my second wife, with whom I came to the States. She died four years ago. I have a daughter and a grand daughter in Atlanta.
Living in Atlanta, my desire to own the language and understand America led me to plow through William Faulkner, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison novels.
Despite my books being based on my experience I believe that life-writing amounts to no more exactitude than fabulation or storytelling, as our lives themselves are often based on the stories we tell ourselves.
I use collage of styles. I call my books ‘works’ to mark the difference between market-oriented products, categorized by genres, and the literary realm in all its manifestations. I do not consider myself a poet but several of my readers find my wording poetic because I blend lyricism in my prose.
I practice the saying: ‘Writing is sustained reading’ as an intense reader, first for pleasure, but also to perfect my craft and learn about other authors.
I wrote three books
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Friend of My Mind, A Love Story, is the rewrite of Yocheved The Friend of My Mind. Two major changes, drove me to rewriting it. They occurred during the translation from English to French, my native language,
One paragraph in the original, what’ I called “the Nasty Letter”, grew to its full presence, making it even nastier to me.
Translating your own text brings new perspectives and elicits reflections. There was a piece in the original where I traced my issues to the failing marriage of my parents. Undertaking the translating process in France, the country from which most of my family was deported to Auschwitz, the dark shadow of what affected them, required to add a long note to that part of the original that did not do justice to my parents.
Despite not revealing unknown facts, it ended up as a new book. Like a cook making a new dish from leftovers, seasoning. The additions to the original are primarily driven by reading the original manuscript, and thinking how unconscious associations, guided me to pen this word or this sentence.
Honesty demands admitting that to self-publish Yocheved The friend of My Mind already planted the seeds of the Will to Write, the desire for a vita nova, or new life.
With the rewrite, my assertion that it did not fit into the category of memoir grew stronger as I delved into the literature about auto-fiction, autobiography, and life writing. With the addition of comments and epigraphs, I chose to categorize it as a literary fiction based on my journey with Yocheved.
Four years into my grief journey it became The Friend of My Mind A love story.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Would it be unusual these days to write longhand with a fountain pen? I also go every day to write in a cafe as I find it more isolating me from distraction than staying home, making espresso drinks and the temptations of the refrigerator.
I got into the habit of rewriting my first draft with the help of a physical Roget’s Thesaurus. I also write my first draft in one notebook and the rewrite in another one, only then I dictate it to a Word document as I type too slowly
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Victor Hugo, les Miserables; Louis Aragon La Mise a Mort; the Paris Peasant. Louis Aragon, especially his poetry but even more his last four novels. He influenced my belief that categorization in genres is a nuisance. And you cannot ignore Marcel Proust. The more recent influence is Helene Cixous and Aragon’s spouse Elsa Triolet.
The ‘ foreigners’ are James Joyce, Maiakovski. Coming to America I plunged into Faulkner, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. She impacted me the most because of her writing, blending poetic, fantastic and deep fictional characters aiming at a deeper social reality.
What are you working on now?
I work on a book I see as un unfinishing book, meaning, as I read, and I am an intense reader, my associations are both to other books from the same authors or to what I wrote before, published or not. I am convinced that we do always write the same thing, altering the form, the setting. Therefore, I work on a book whose form I did not finalize (fragments or fiction-fragments), but it would be notes-on-notes-on-notes, ad infinitum.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I work with a coach, and I decided that since my goal is to get more readers for my next published book I need to develop a core of readers, interested in my kind of writing. I focus my efforts on beginning a newsletter or a Substack following, for that purpose I follow and comment on selected Substack’s authors or magazines/newsletters.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep your voice, stay on course, trust your instincts.
If you plan to self-publish which is my experience due to my age (77), and being a new author, I would say, get a good editor (s), development and copy, and a self-publishing coach. It would save you unnecessary troubles, save you money in the long run and give you knowledge. Also, use workshops parsimoniously!!! They give you the same things and formulas, you risk sacrifice your creativity for commercial requested molds.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write, Write, Write, and rewrite because rewriting IS writing – inspired by Toni Morrison
What are you reading now?
Franz Kafka, Letter to the father; Clarice Lispector, Complete stories; Helene Cixous, The steps on the Ladder of writing. Jacques Derrida, Circonfession
What’s next for you as a writer?
Complete my book, write more essays to get more reader.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Author Websites and Profiles
Gil Frank Website
Gil Frank Amazon Profile
Gil Frank’s Social Media Links
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