One of my all-time favorite authors is
Aharon Appelfeld. I had read all of his novels and learned about his amazing life--seeing his parents killed in front of him during the Holocaust and escaping at the age of 8. Joining up with the Russian army at the age of ten where he worked as a cook, and eventually walking to Israel where he has since lived.
One year I was visiting my daughter who lived on the upper west side of Manhattan. I went to the synagogue on Riverside Drive that was a few blocks away for a Shabbat service. At the end of the service the rabbi talked about a special visitor. As he described the visitor, I recognized who he was talking about and whispered to my daughter, "Ohmygod, that has to be Aharon Appelfeld!"
Within seconds the rabbi introduced him. I was so glad to shake his hand and tell him how much I admired his work and expressed my thought that he should win a Nobel prize. He just smiled and nodded. Of course there was a swarm of people who wanted to do the same thing.
When we left the synagogue I went to the first pay phone and called my friend in Denver who had first introduced me to his work. I told her and she was very excited as well. Not such a momentous story, but for me it was like meeting Shakespeare.
The Parrot
Sandy Shwayder Sanchez
Walter Mosley, the bestselling author of the Easy Rawlins mystery series, is shocking readers with his controversial new book, 
