Judy Brown wrote the controversial novel Hush--a finalist for the 2011 Sydney Taylor Award for outstanding book on the Jewish experience--under a pseudonym because of feared backlash from the Chassidic world. Brown's identity has since been revealed and she has left Chassidism. She has been profiled in The New York Times Magazine and has written for the Huffington Post and the Jewish Daily Forward. She holds a master's in creative writing and lives in New York City.Here Brown explains why an adaptation of her new memoir, This Is Not a Love Story, may not be in cinemas very soon:
Having grown up in ultra-orthodox Jewish community where movies, TV and any medium connecting one to the mainstream cultural world was forbidden, I do not know enough to fantasize about who would theoretically play the characters of my book should Hollywood come calling. I am sure there are many talented actors and actresses who could play the parts of the various Chassidim that fill my story. They would have to learn the cultural dialect of Yinglesh (a combination of English and Yiddish which is the language of that world), and adapt themselves to wearing many layers of clothing. This I suppose is a good enough reason for Hollywood not to come calling.Visit Judy Brown's website.
--Marshal Zeringue