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Ilana Kurshan

Biography

Ilana Kurshan

Ilana Kurshan is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Cambridge. She has worked in literary publishing both in New York and in Jerusalem, serving as a translator, a foreign rights agent, and the book reviews editor of Lilith magazine. Kurshan is the author of IF ALL THE SEAS WERE INK winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature.

Ilana Kurshan

Books by Ilana Kurshan

Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together
by Ilana Kurshan - Memoir, Nonfiction

Kurshan, a mother of five living in Jerusalem, struggles to balance her passion for books with her responsibilities as a parent. Gradually she learns how to relate to reading not as a solitary pursuit and an escape from the messiness of life, but rather as a way of forging connection and teaching independence. Introducing her children to sacred and secular literature --- including the beloved classics of her childhood --- she becomes both a better mother and a more compassionate reader. Chief among the books Kurshan reads with her children is the Torah, whose ancient wisdom illuminates her family's path. Structured in five parts corresponding to the first five books of the Bible, this memoir traces the profound parallels between the biblical narrative and the daily rhythms of parenthood.