Summer Literary Seminars, Montreal
Summer Literary Seminars, Vilnius
Press for Boundless as the Sky
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Publisher's Weekly (starred review, and a "book of the week" pick): "Raffel ... draws inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and the history of Chicago’s 1933 World's Fair for this sublime collection ... This profile of a city within a city creates a Russian nesting doll of urban tableaux ... This is one to savor."
Booklist: "Discerningly refined, sharply faceted tales…Raffel creates a carousel of yearning, scheming, and tender characters…achieving strobe-like vibrancy." --Donna Seaman
The Chicago Tribune: “Marvelous and arresting.”—Rick Kogan
A Life in Books: “Raffel weaves historical details through her fiction, some almost as fantastical as the word pictures of the first section…. A remarkable piece of writing, wonderfully imaginative and inventive.” —Susan Osborne
Never Imitate: “Beautifully written…. akin to reading a poetry collection…. imaginative and engaging….” —Jackie Law
Lithub: A New Way of Being on the Page —A Reading List of Very Short Fictions
Lithub: On Constructing Cities, Real and Imagined
A Mighty Blaze: Interview with Bo Ellis, on youtube
Interview with Deborah Kalb: “Underneath whatever city we inhabit, all the previous and future cities repose.”
Excerpt in Bookanista: “Today is a record, an unsurpassed feat, and it’s not even noon…”
Excerpt in Socrates on the Beach: “Wind is what wakes her, wind and rain, against the hotel window…”
Playlist for Boundless as the Sky on Largehearted Boy : Beginning with “Dream 3: In the Midst of My Life”
Virtual Memories podcast (youtube)
Press for The Strange Case of Dr. Couney
The Strange case of Dr. Couney has won a Christopher Award. Now in its 72nd year, the Christopher Awards are given to movies, television and books that affirm the highest values of the human spirit.
The Strange Case of Dr. Couney is included in “Five Refreshing Books About History” on Ezvid Wiki.
On the radio:
Innovation Hub: Listen
Good Books Radio, hosted by Dr. W. F. Strong PBS radio stations: Listen
WHYY The Pulse: Listen
WGN Chicago Late Night with Rick Kogan: Listen
“Made in the Middle” KIOS Omaha Public Radio with Emily Chen-Newton: Listen
On TV:
WTTW, PBS Chicago: Watch
In print:
On the Seawall interview with Marion Winik
The Quivering Pen--"The first time I dug up history"
The Vintage News—"in 1903, a very strange sideshow opened for business on Coney Island...."
Jewish Journal--Seven Books to Keep on Your Summer Reading radar
New York Magazine—"If you look deeply enough, go under the facts and look for meaning and resonance, that's where everybody has a story."
"The Accidental Memoir"—"My possessions seem to hold some intangible residue of the places I've been and the people I've loved, and together they tell my life story...."
The Nervous Breakdown (review)—"Raffel is still constellating, still pinpointing radiant instants..."
An interview in Transatlantica—"I think much 'realistic' writing offers a window onto a reality that is only about an inch deep; my view is that reality is much deeper and weirder than anything we can comprehend logically, through linear narration and clear character motivation."
The Huffington Post—Further Adventures on HuffPo