Nimrod’s Voices of the Middle East and North Africa is out now, and my story “The Levantines” is included. The story is set in Los Angeles in 1950, and is based on a period of my family’s history, when my paternal grandfather, who with my grandmother emigrated to New York early in the 20th century, retired from the Atlantic Avenue bakery he founded with his brothers and moved the family to southern California. In “The Levantines,” I’ve imagined what those first weeks were like, especially for the character of Sofia, who is based on my grandmother, and whose life was defined by a series of painful departures and dislocations.
The editors were kind enough to include a photograph taken outside my grandfather’s bakery in Brooklyin, taken by my father around 1946
You can purchase an issue here.