Tony Eprile

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Tony Eprile
Born1955
Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation Novelist
Education Connecticut College; Brown University
Genre Drama, fiction, short stories
Notable awards Koret Jewish Book Award (2005)

Tony Eprile is a South African and American writer. His 2004 novel, The Persistence of Memory , won the Koret Jewish Book Award in 2005, beating out The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Tony Eprile was born in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955 to Jewish parents. [3] [4] His mother, Liesel Weil was a from a well-to-do German Jewish family in Frankfurt that were adherents of Liberal Judaism. [5] Amid the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, she emigrated to South Africa in 1936 at the age of seventeen. [5] Eprile's father, Cecil Eprile, a Scottish Jew, also arrived in South Africa in 1936. [5] Cecil was the editor of the Golden City Post, a liberal newspaper catering to a black South African readership and advocating for the end of apartheid. [6] [5]

In the late 1960s, he emigrated to England with his parents and brother when he was 12 years-old. [5] The family then emigrated to the United States between 1970 and 1972 [7] [8] At the age of 17, Eprile then a recent arrival in the United States, took a writing class at college. He produced a South African-themed short story titled, "Cough’s Tokoloshe", with the tokoloshe employed as a metaphor for white fears. Year later, he gave a copy of the story to a visiting poet, Robert Hayden. Hayden invited him to talk to him about the story, and they became friends, with Hayden acting as an important mentor to Eprile. [9]

He attended Connecticut College, graduating with a BA in Anthropology. He later graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Brown University. [10]

Career

Eprile is the author of the 1989 book Temporary Sojourner and Other South African Stories, [11] which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. [12]

His 2004 book The Persistence of Memory [7] [13] [14] won the Koret Jewish Book Award. [15] Anderson Tepper, writing in The Forward , speculated that the novel "just might prove to be the [South African] Jewish community’s masterpiece." [16] The novel was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. [17] It was also listed as a best book of 2004 by The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times . [18]

He has taught at Northwestern University, Williams College, Bennington College, Lesley University, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. [19]

He has also published guest columns, book reviews, literary criticism and interviews with writers for titles such as The New York Times , The Nation , The Washington Post , Tablet and The Johannesburg Review of Books . [20] [21] [22] [5] [23] He acts as an Editorial Advisory Panel member for The Johannesburg Review of Books with Antjie Krog and Lauren Beukes, among others. [23] [24]

Personal life

Eprile lives in Vermont in the United States with his wife, Judith D. Schwartz, whom he married in 1989. [25] [26]

Publications

Short stories

Novels

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References

  1. ↑ Koret Honors Jewish Writers, Works for Community of Readers The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 14 April 2005
  2. ↑ Jewish book awards get facelift The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 7 March 2006
  3. ↑ "the ILANOT Review". www.biu.ac.il.
  4. ↑ Switzerland), Posen Library of Jewish culture and civilization (Lucerne (20 November 2012). The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 10: 1973-2005. Yale University Press. ISBN   9780300135534 – via Google Books.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Putting Out the Unwelcome Mat Tablet. 27 February 2017
  6. ↑ 17 Books to Kick-Start Fall Oprah. 24 August 2018
  7. 1 2 Brawarsky, Sandee (9 September 2004). "'Memory' Shapes Life and History". Jewish Journal.
  8. ↑ Taliaferro, Frances (13 June 2004). "Laughter and Forgetting". Washington Post (book review).
  9. ↑ 10 Questions for Tony Eprile The Massachusetts Review. 15 February 2017
  10. ↑ Tony Eprile Lesley University. Retrieved on 6 September 2024
  11. ↑ Rochman, Hazel (20 August 1989). "Where Men Are Boys Even Now" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ↑ "Eprile, Tony 1955(?)- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
  13. ↑ Tait, Theo (8 August 2004). "Truth and Reconciliation". The New York Times.
  14. ↑ "Ah, but the land is unforgettable". Los Angeles Times. 18 July 2004.
  15. ↑ "Jewish book awards get facelift". 7 March 2006.
  16. ↑ South African Jews Begin To Tell Tales The Forward. 24 December 2024
  17. ↑ 100 Notable Books of the Year The New York Times. 5 December 2004
  18. ↑ Authors Tony Eprile and Judith D. Schwartz wrap ‘Books for Bennington’ Bennington Banner. 6 July 2009
  19. ↑ Cornwell, Gareth; Klopper, Dirk; Mackenzie, Craig (13 April 2010). The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945. Columbia University Press. ISBN   9780231503815 – via Google Books.
  20. ↑ WHY DID YOU MAKE ME BLACK?' The New York Times. 7 January 1990
  21. ↑ Gordimer’s Way The Nation. 16 September 2014
  22. ↑ SECRETS OF A SMALL TOWN IN GERMANY The Washington Post. 26 May 1990
  23. 1 2 [Conversation Issue ‘I know what lurks in the bushes. And that’s how I write the stories’—Jason Reynolds talks to Tony Eprile about resistance and the imagination] The Johannesburg Review of Books. 16 January 2020
  24. ↑ The JRB: five years, 50 issues, 425 contributors The Johannesburg Review of Books. 2 May 2022
  25. ↑ about https://www.judithdschwartz.com. Retrieved on 6 September 2024
  26. ↑ Judith Schwartz Weds Tony Eprile The New York Times. 29 October 1989
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