Creature Double Feature Part II: Dragons & Golems with Emi Watanabe Cohen

The Book of Life: A Podcast About Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/creature-double-feature-part-ii-emi.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/LlqEguYzidUDn_uqBHgEK5B1QKY?utm_source=copy_url

For the month of November 2024, we've got a 2-part series, CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE: ANTISEMITISM AND THE SUPERNATURAL. Our guest for Part II is Japanese American Jewish author Emi Watanabe Cohen. Her debut novel was The Lost Ryū (about dragons), and her sophomore novel is Golemcrafters (about golems, of course).

I loved The Lost Ryū so much that I volunteered to review it for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze blog, because I wanted to point out a moment of allyship that touched my soul. Then, along came Golemcrafters. I must admit I was wary at first, because golems are kind of overdone, but this book drew me in even more than The Lost Ryū, with how much it mirrored my own emotional response to antisemitism. Both of these books are like hands reaching out to hold yours. I highly recommend that you reach back, and read both books yourself.

Creature Double Feature Part I features an interview with Deke Moulton about her vampire and werewolf middle grade novels, Don't Want to Be Your Monster and Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf, which make great companions to Emi's books.

LEARN MORE:

• Creature Double Feature Part I with Deke Moulton
• Emi's website EmiCohenWrites.com
• Buy / borrow The Lost Ryū
• Buy / borrow Golemcrafters
• Emi's reading recommendations:
  • Don't Want to Be Your Monster and Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton
  • Wrath Becomes Her and The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
  • Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe
  • When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
  • The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction by Elizabeth R. Baer

NOVEMBER EVENTS JEWISH JOY READING PARTY Auction November 13-20, 2024 Bid at The Artists Against Antisemitism 2nd annual Auction to have me host a private virtual event for you and your friends BID HERE! CHEERING ON JEWISH BOOKS November 20, 2024 at 7pm ET Free online talk about supporting Jewish literature PRE-REGISTER HERE!