Temim Fruchter on Writing to Resist Repression

Welcome to I’m a Writer But, where writers discuss their work, their lives, their other work, the stuff that takes up any free time they have, all the stuff they’re not able to get to, and the ways in which any of us get anything done. Plus: book recommendations, bad jokes, okay jokes, despair, joy, and anything else going on that week. Hosted by Lindsay Hunter.    

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Today, Temim Fruchter discusses her debut novel, City of Laughter, the Jewish folklore and queer joy that informed it, the circular/non-linear structure to be found in Jewish folklore and in her novel, writing in different timelines and generations, hosting Pete’s Reading Series, ultrafemme queerness, and more!

From the episode:

Temim Fruchter: I come from a very religious background. I grew up orthodox Jewish. And while Judaism can be a body-positive and sex-positive religion and culture in a lot of ways, in a relatively religious context, sex and the body and desire are often things to be euphemismed and feared and siphoned off or saved for special occasions. I think part of writing this book was writing into a resistance to some of the kinds of repression I grew up around. I wanted to give these women the challenge of meeting themselves in their bodies.

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Temim Fruchter is a queer nonbinary anti-Zionist Jewish writer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Maryland, and is the recipient of fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Vermont Studio Center, and a 2020 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award. She is co-host of Pete’s Reading Series in Brooklyn. Her debut novel, CITY OF LAUGHTER, a New York Times Editors’ Pick, is out now on Grove Atlantic.