By Zoe London
Volume 69, Issue IV
Between the Book Club, Writer’s Circle, and students who do more than look up the SparkNotes for book assignments, there’s a solid population of avid readers at BHS. Ms. Fernandez worked to organize an author event on April 17th, bringing writer Lynda Cohen Loigman to talk to students interested in the writing and publication process. Loigman had a somewhat unconventional path to taking on her now full-time job as an author: after graduating law school, she worked in estate law for eight years. As she raised her children, Loigman eventually grew into her passion as an author.
During the visit, she discussed her creative process, which began with constantly making up and telling stories to her family, and progressed to taking writing classes to refine thesesame stories. It was through this process that Loigman crafted her first novel, The Two-Family House, a story set in post-World War II Brooklyn and which details the multi-generational relationships, scandals, and tragedies that emerge from two families living in close quarters.
Wartime Sisters, Loigman’s second novel, was published just this past January, despite the recounted difficulty of working on a deadline in comparison to writing freely as
she did for her first novel. Wartime Sisters develops the relationship between two estranged, working sisters during World War II, with overarching themes of familial complexity and women in war.
She noted all of the experience she gained afterpublishing her firstbook—working with a publishing house, commissioning a book cover, and obtaining book reviews—that helped her to produce a piece. However, she’s not stopping at two successful historical fiction novels; to wrap up her talk, she lent some insight onto the literary projects she’s working on next, so be sure to keep an eye out for rising author Lynda Loigman.
briarcliffbulletin.com 