By Leah Beck
At the end of April the Nachshon Fellows ate sushi with Etgar Keret, a well known and eccentric Israeli author. He was one of my favorite speakers we have heard all semester, not to mention the extravagantly delicious sushi we ate at Nini Hachi in Tel Aviv. Keret spoke to us about his writing style and opened us up to his personal process in writing a story. I loved hearing Keret speak and read pieces of his own work, and felt myself hanging on to his every word. This was one of the times this semester when I felt confident speaking up and asking questions because, creative writing being my major in college, this was a topic I take interest in and know a lot about.
My favorite part of the evening happened while we were eating mushrooms, which I remember because I don’t usually like mushrooms, but these particular mushrooms were delicious. I asked Etgar Keret about his editing process. He has a very unique way of getting straight to the point in his writing without ever beating around the bush or using too many unnecessary words. In his tangent of an answer, I hung onto his every word about the way he throws his reader directly into the story and lets them orient themselves without holding their hands to do so. I also took inspiration from the way he writes the full story of each of his secondary characters because he feels the need to zoom out and see the entire picture of the world he is painting, even if those stories aren’t significant to the reader’s need.
I am a creative writing major, but I haven’t spent much time writing since I’ve been in Israel. Etgar Keret reminded me how important writing is in my life and inspired me to write more about my experiences here. Since we heard him speak I have gotten up in the middle of the night to write on multiple occasions, something I haven’t done in over a year. When signing my books, Keret wrote “Many adventures”, and “A big hug from the future” – I greatly appreciate this connection that Nachshon has given me and I can’t wait to continue learning to connect my passion for creative writing with my passion for Judaism and Israel.
