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News & Updates

“[Wecker is] a marvelous storyteller, attentive not just to her mystical protagonists, but to a rich cast of supporting characters as well.”
— Carmela Ciuraru, USA Today
Helene Wecker Helene Wecker

Can Robots Get Religion?

[Roundtable: Robots Get Religion]

A few months ago, I flew to New York for an event with Judith Shulevitz and Amy E. Schwartz at the New York Jewish Book Festival. There, we were to discuss the subject(s) of robots, golems, and A.I., and whether any or all of these constructs might someday develop what we humans would recognize as religious feeling. The result was a fun and freewheeling conversation that, as you might imagine, dragged in all sorts of references and ideas. Ms. Shulevitz, who writes for The Atlantic among other publications (and whose book The Sabbath World I'm currently reading), has written quite a bit about our relationships with our A.I. assistants like Alexa and Siri, and it was fascinating to speculate with her and Ms. Schwartz about what an A.I.'s religion could (and couldn't) look like. Ms. Schwartz, Moment Magazine's Books and Opinions Editor and the editor of the magazine's popular “Ask the Rabbis” column, brought in Asimov's Laws of Robotics, and asked what it is, exactly, that we're projecting onto our own creations when we tell stories of them acquiring free will. It was the sort of conversation that I mull over long afterwards, turning bits of it over in my head. I'm very happy that Moment has published a condensed transcript as part of their summer issue on artificial intelligence, so you can experience it for yourself!

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Ten Years of The Golem and the Jinni

Ten years ago this week, my debut novel The Golem and the Jinni was released into the world.

I’d worked on it for seven years by then. To me, it had long since become the book. As in, This year I have to finish the book. Or, I need to find some time to work on the book. Or, I have got to figure out what's wrong with the book. I nearly abandoned it more than once, but my brain wouldn't let it go. I'd developed just enough of a writer's instinct to know that there was something worthwhile in that mess of an idea, and I had to discover what it was — and that meant discovering who Chava and Ahmad, our titular golem and jinni, were supposed to be. I had to capture Chava's curious and open-hearted nature, her quiet intelligence, her yearning for connection. And I had to realize Ahmad's essential longing for freedom, his unwillingness to be tamed.

The act of creating fictional characters will never not strike me as a bizarre way to make a living. I'm inventing people and getting paid for it. Seriously, what? At least my actual living children arrived with their own built-in personalities and free will. The made-up people in my head can’t do anything without my say-so. Multiply that out over seventeen years of working with the same characters, and maybe you develop a certain sense of obligation towards them. Partly this stems from the fact that I've always tried to treat Chava and Ahmad like real people, no matter how fantastical. I try to change them in the way that real people tend to change: slowly, believably, in response to outer forces and inner struggles. Maybe it’s a cliche to say that they feel like family — but at this point, how could they not? They've been in my head every single day for the better part of two decades.

The Golem and the Jinni reshaped my life so fundamentally that it's difficult to imagine who I'd be today without it. Over the years I’ve been honored to receive countless messages from readers who have been moved by Chava and Ahmad's story, both in The Golem and the Jinni and its sequel, The Hidden Palace. These days I'm hard at work on the third book, which, as I currently imagine it, is a tale of flawed parenthood and generational legacy, a sort of passing of the torch. After that — well, who knows? Not me, certainly. But no matter what I go on to do or write, Chava and Ahmad will remain a constant in my life. Some part of me will always see the world through their eyes.

Thank you, readers, for your continued support of Chava and Ahmad, and for following along with their journey. I can't wait to see where it takes us all next.

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Finding Genius Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of joining the Finding Genius Podcast to discuss “Getting In Touch With The Writing Process”. We chatted about finding my groove in the creative process, why my past is so integral to my work approach, and what it took to write The Golem and the Jinni and The Hidden Palace.

Listen to the episode HERE.

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HUC College Commons Podcast

It was a pleasure joining HUC College Commons Podcast as we discussed the immigrant experience through the lives of mythical monsters in The Golem and the Jinni and The Hidden Palace.

Listen now on all platforms you get your podcasts from!

http://collegecommons.huc.edu/bully_pulpit/wecker/

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One Year of The Hidden Palace

It’s somehow been an entire year since The Hidden Palace was published in June 2021. For me, the time has passed in a blur of Zoom readings, podcast chats, and fabulous conversations with my readers, many of whom had been waiting for a sequel since 2013. 😳 A huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all my readers for welcoming Chava and Ahmad back into your lives!

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The Hidden Palace is a 2021 National Jewish Book Award winner!

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that The Hidden Palace has received the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in the Book Club category!

From the award page:

Inau­gu­rat­ed in 1950, the Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards is the longest-run­ning North Amer­i­can awards pro­gram of its kind and is rec­og­nized as the most pres­ti­gious. The Awards are intend­ed to rec­og­nize authors, and encour­age read­ing, of out­stand­ing Eng­lish-lan­guage books of Jew­ish interest.

Awards are pre­sent­ed in over eigh­teen cat­e­gories, and the win­ning authors are cel­e­brat­ed at an annu­al gala in the year fol­low­ing the pub­li­ca­tion of the books under con­sid­er­a­tion. Past notable win­ners include Chaim Grade, Deb­o­rah Lip­stadt, Bernard Mala­mud, Michael Oren, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Elie Wiesel, Jonathan Safran Foer, Deb­o­rah Dash Moore, and Sandy Eisen­berg Sasso.

And the Jewish Book Council’s review by Matthue Roth has this to say about The Hidden Palace:

Every time I pick up Dick­ens, I remem­ber how his works were orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in install­ments, how each would end on a cliffhang­er, whip­ping read­ers into a fren­zy that sent them back for the next chap­ter. Wecker’s chap­ters oper­ate on a sim­i­lar lev­el, weav­ing for­ward a grand but slow-mov­ing mas­ter plan through a vast tapes­try of char­ac­ters — from an upper-class daugh­ter of priv­i­lege set afire (both metaphor­i­cal­ly and lit­er­al­ly) by the jinni’s touch; to a teenage West­ern Union mes­sage boy; to a New World golem, cre­at­ed in the wake of the old one, with a dif­fer­ent mis­sion and a sim­i­lar exis­ten­tial cri­sis — teas­ing out a greater pic­ture we don’t see until the novel’s end.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

Link: National Jewish Book Awards

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The Hidden Palace is the 2021-2022 pick for One Bay One Book!

I am beyond thrilled that the Jewish LearningWorks has selected The Hidden Palace for One Bay One Book: A Project of the Jewish Community Library. One Bay One Book is a year-long conversation connecting Bay Area readers through discussions, events, and informal conversations centered around a single title and its themes.

I spoke to J. The Jewish News of Northern California about being chosen for One Bay One Book:

While “The Golem and the Jinni” addressed immigration and “the shock of finding yourself in a new place,” Wecker said, “the second book is a lot more about assimilation and the slow process of becoming someone else in a new world and having to decide for yourself what that means for you.”

Women’s rights, workers’ rights and health conditions in cities are some of the other issues she tackles that have contemporary resonances. “We think of the people who lived in the past as living one particular way, or only a small handful of particular ways, when the truth is the past was a kaleidoscope,” she said.

You can also read and learn more about the One Bay One Book program here!

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Polygon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021

I’m honored that Polygon listed The Hidden Palace as one of their best science fiction and fantasy books of 2021!

Read this excerpt from the article below.

“It’s been eight years since Helene Wecker’s stunning fantasy debut The Golem and the Jinni, and her fans were about ready to give up on her promised sequel. But The Hidden Palace takes up the story seamlessly, and brings back all the elements that made the first book so indelible.

In turn-of-the-century New York City, a genie escaped from captivity and a golem whose master has died fumble through understanding themselves and their relationships to humanity. In The Hidden Palace, they become lovers, but the creation of a male golem and the arrival of a female jinn remind both protagonists of their own natures, and highlight their differences and their dissatisfactions with the world.

With this sequel, Wecker moves the story rapidly forward in time, showing New York’s evolution and highlighting the characters’ unaging bodies and difficulty integrating with a human world. Those are just a few of the many, many threads she juggles in a rich literary novel that digs into what it means to be human, by setting up a series of meaningful contrasts from characters who aren’t.”

Check out the other phenomenal titles who made their list here: Polygon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books 2021

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Virtual Tour with Sarah McCraw Crow

As The Hidden Palace Virtual Tour was coming to a close, I had a wonderful conversation with fellow novelist, Sarah McCraw Crow, in July hosted by the University Book Store. Join us and watch below.

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2021 CALIBA Golden Poppy Awarded to THE HIDDEN PALACE

I am thrilled and honored to announce that THE HIDDEN PALACE has been awarded the 2021 CALIBA Golden Poppy Award for SciFi/Fantasy!

The members of CALIBA present The Golden Poppy Book Awards to recognize the most distinguished books written by writers and artists who make California their home.

Thank you to all the members and bookstores who gathered titles, read through stacks of books, and voted to elevate and celebrate the publication of all these phenomenal titles. I would like to encourage all of you to purchase your next book from your local indie bookstore! 

Check out all the winners here: CALIBA Golden Poppy Winners

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JWA 2021-22 Book Club Picks

Very happy and grateful that the Jewish Women’s Archive has selected The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni for their 2021-22 Virtual Book Shelf.

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