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ESSAYS

My 5 favorite books about addiction.

Essay published on shepherd.com 

The TNB Self-Interview

Do you feel weird interviewing yourself? Um, not really.

Mothers, Daughters, Orthodox Judaism, and Forgiveness

Talking w/ Arts Desk about my Jewish upbringing, women in the faith, and learning to forgive.

The Meaning of Dara

Dara Torres. Dara Torres. God, it would be so easy to hate her. Let’s start with the abs that defy nature...

I Was a Mean Girl: I Got My Revenge, 20 Years Later

I was a grown woman when I outmeaned the meanest girl in my elementary school, a cheerleader with brilliant blue eyes and slightly bucked teeth...

My Spiritual Fitness Regimen

Instead of focusing on dieting before my daughter’s bat mitzvah, I decided to get in shape emotionally.

First Person: Crossing Bradley Boulevard

For my sister-in-law, this intersection is about more than walk and don’t walk.

Book Club Envy: A Love Letter to Book Groups

I have a bad case of book club envy. None of my dozen or so ex-book clubs exist any longer.

How My Grandmother’s Cookbook Made Me a Writer

On Cooking, Rosh Hashanah, and Inhabiting a Fictive World.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Me

It began with a glance. I was walking out of Barnes & Noble on a warm May afternoon when I spotted him, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, or, shall I say, his four-disc audio book...

Forgiveness Means Taking a Wrecking Ball to the Hard Crusts We Build...

I’m knee-deep into what promises to be a fifty-plus gig book tour...

A Prayer for the Nameless

Each Yom Kippur our rabbi invites a few congregants to write a prayer leading up to the Yizkor Memorial service.

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Hair

“You’re going to talk about hair? For two hours?” my mother said after I told her I’d been invited to co-facilitate a Lilith Salon...

A Hand Through the Mechitza

My family is hitting the b’nai mitzvah circuit hard these days.

On Saying Kaddish Over Zoom

My mother died four days into 2021. Zoom burial, Zoom shiva, and now, Zoom kaddish...

PRESS

Michelle Featured on New Books Network Podcast

Thank you for the great chat, Galit Gottlieb! 

Denver's Denver Westword's Fall Book List

Selected by author R.L. Maizes! 

Swimming with Ghosts featured on WYPR Radio

Thank you, Marion Winik! 

Michelle's interview on First Draft Podcast!

As featured on Lithub! 

Lilith Magazine Q & A

Michelle Brafman's Characters Are Underwater 

Washington Independent Review of Books

Michelle talks about pools, addiction, and the aftermath of the DC derecho.

Michelle Visits I Know How The Book Ends Podcast

Fun chatting about Swimming with Ghosts with excellent host, Amy Impellizzeri! 

SWG Is Featured in the Washington City Paper

Secret Family Recipe: Michelle Brafman Talks Swimming with Ghosts 

Swimming with Ghosts popped up on SwimSwam!

New essay on Oprah Daily!

More than 175,000 people read my essay about Ozempic. Grateful to readers for reaching out with your stories. 

Swimming with Ghosts Launch!

I will be in conversation with Bethanne Patrick at Politics and Prose, June 3 at 3pm. 

First Draft : A Dialogue on Writing

Mitzi Rapkin, podcast creator and host, talks to Michelle about her first novel Washing the Dead.

Radio Interview w/ Jen Golbeck

Talking about Washing the Dead on-air.

Q&A with Deborah Kalb [Washing the Dead]

Talking about mother-daughter relationships, writing, and religion.

Interview w/ Erin Philips

Talking about La Jolla, my writing routine, and Judaism.

Be(coming) Clean

Washing the Dead Q&A w/ Jen Michalski.

Washing the Dead Q&A

Examining the intersection of religion and three generations of mother-daughter relationships.

College Essay Workshops 2023!

June workshop is sold out. There are few July and August spots available! Read more on my Teaching page or email me.


Q&A with Deborah Kalb [Bertrand Court]

Chatting about Bertrand Court!

Caroline Leavittville Interview

Writing to celebrate "juicy inconsistencies," walking as the muse, writing 17 different characters and more.

'Bertrand Court' Looks Inside Suburban DC...

Beyond the Capitol... An interview with Milwaukee's NPR station WUWM 89.7.

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