Writer, journalist, editor, and teacher, Elaine Kalman Naves was born in Hungary, and grew up in Budapest, London and Montreal. For many years she was literary columnist for the Montreal Gazette, and is the author of eight books. Among them are the award winning memoirs Journey to Vaja and Shoshanna’s Story. Elaine’s other books include The Writers of Montreal; Putting Down Roots, Storied Streets (co-authored with Bryan Demchinsky); and Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature. Her work of creative nonfiction, Portrait of a Scandal, shed light on a secret page of Canadian history. The Book of Faith, Elaine’s first novel, was nominated for the 2016 Leacock Prize for Humour.
Elaine’s other honours include a Canadian Literary Award for Personal Essay, two Quebec Writers’ Federation prizes for non-fiction, and two Jewish Book Awards for Holocaust Literature. A documentary film, Paradise Lost, based on Elaine’s book Journey to Vaja was made by 4 Square Productions in 2000. In 2015 Elaine was invited to testify in Germany at the war crimes trial of Auschwitz SS guard Oskar Groening, one of the last war crimes trials of World War II, an experience she subsequently wrote about in Walrus magazine.
Elaine has led workshops in creative writing at the Quebec Writers’ Federation since their inception in 1998, and mentors emerging writers through the QWF mentorship program as well as privately. Her workshop students at the QWF have included authors who subsequently penned critically acclaimed works, among them Susan Pinker, Susan Doherty, Lise Weil, and Janet Torge. Two of her private students—Rosalind Pepall and Dr. Judy Stone—recently published books that they originally developed with Elaine. Her most recent mentee is James Olwell, whose memoir, The Art of Being Irish in Hell’s Kitchen, was published by Friesen Press.
