Hello! My name’s Jo Roberts. My book, Contested Land,
Contested Memory: Israel’s Jews and Arabs and the Ghosts of Catastrophe, has just been published by Dundurn Press. I’m
getting very positive feedback so far (see below); and the first review, in Publishers
Weekly, said “Roberts does a masterful job of presenting all perspectives in their proper context.” Now, I
just need to get the word out more widely! Can you help?
How much am I trying to raise, and how would I use it?
These
days, the publishing industry’s in turmoil, and authors have to do most of
their own book promotion. I'm not expecting to make any money from this book— aside from some Arts Council writing
grants, and a $2,000 publishers' advance, I've been living off my savings.
But I feel passionately about this. I know that there’s a receptive audience out
there for books like mine – books on Israel/Palestine that seek to deepen
understanding, rather than fight a war of words. To reach that audience,
I need to get my book into the hands of people who are in a position to
recommend it widely.
I’d like to raise $2,500. Here’s how I’d use it:
$2,000: I’d buy copies of my book at cost, and mail them
with a personal letter to the people on my growing list. Your money would be
spent on books, mailers, and postage. Depending on postage variables, each book
will cost $22-35 to buy and ship out.
$500: I’d put this money aside for travel expenses, to
accept the out-of-town invitations to speak that are coming in. If I
raise over $2,500, that’s what the
money will go to.
What my book's about
1948: As Jewish refugees,
survivors of the Holocaust, struggle toward the new State of Israel, Arab
refugees are fleeing, many under duress. Sixty years later, the memory of trauma
has shaped both peoples' collective understanding of who they are.
After a war, the victors
write history. How was the story of the exiled Palestinians erased -- from
textbooks, maps, even the land? How do Jewish and Palestinian Israelis now
engage with the histories of the Palestinian Nakba ("Catastrophe")
and the Holocaust, and how do these echo through the political and physical
landscapes of their country?
Vividly narrated, with
extensive original interview material, Contested Land, Contested Memory examines how these tangled
histories of suffering inform Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli lives today, and
frame Israel's possibilities for peace.
While Contested Land, Contested Memory is grounded in scholarly research, it’s written for
the general reader. The many Jewish and Palestinian Israelis I interviewed tell
much of the story.
Why I wrote my book
The debate around Israel/Palestine, and much of the
literature on the topic, is tremendously polarized. I have my own political
perspective, having been a human rights observer in the West Bank, but what I
wanted to do in this book is to convey how the memory of past trauma has shaped
both people’s collective understanding of themselves and each other. This gives
breathing room to the complexities of human experience, the fears and
vulnerabilities of human suffering. As one of the Israelis I interviewed said
to me, “We can’t communicate if we won’t acknowledge the pain the Other is
feeling.”
Advance Praise
“In this moving, lyrical, and very important book, with
some of the bravest and most honest of Israelis and Palestinians as guides,
Roberts offers readers an intimate, often searing tour of the country’s
psychological landscape.”
— Professor Ian
Lustick, Bess W. Heyman chair of
Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
“This compelling and compassionate book offers fresh
insight into how these divergent histories reverberate in Israel today,
examining how selective memories of suffering that exclude the “other” impede
reconciliation and a just peace.”
— Mubarak Awad, founder, Palestinian Centre for the Study of
Nonviolence
“[T]his nuanced, empathic, and knowledgeable book is an
important read for supporters of [both Israelis and Palestinians], and for
people seeking a book through which to enter the charged field of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
— Hillel Cohen, Israeli historian and journalist
“[This] beautifully written book provides an
essential perspective on a topic that could not be more urgent. . .
[and] captures the voices of Jewish and Palestinian Israelis in all their
diversity, pain, and eloquence.”
— Professor
Michael Rothberg, Director of the Holocaust, Genocide,
& Memory Studies Initiative at the University of Illinois
(You can read the full endorsements, and more about me and
my book, on my website: www.joroberts.org)
[November 27th UPDATE: Embassy, Canada's foreign policy weekly, just published a glowing review: "Her writing has academic credibility and personal appeal. If that sounds
unlikely, it is. Only a writer as good as Roberts could make it work—but work
it does, as it proceeds to unravel Israel’s paradoxical political
identity."
]
Why I need crowdfunding
I’m discovering that these days authors are expected to do the lion’s share of promoting their
books. My publisher sent out some advance copies, and will send review copies
to anyone who has definite plans to review the book. I’d like to be more
proactive. What I want to do is to send out copies to all sorts of people who are in a position to spread the word:
potential reviewers, writers in related fields, folks with a specific interest
in what’s happening in Israel-Palestine.
I’ve written for a general audience, but my book would also
be of interest to academics. My publisher doesn’t have academic sales reps, so effectively
no promotion will be happening in that sphere. I’d like people in related
academic fields to know about my book – partly, of course, to increase sales
(if a few profs choose a book as recommended reading for a course, that really
helps) but particularly because I want the book and its ideas to circulate as
widely as possible.
Everyone’s swamped with email these days, so I don’t just
want to send an email describing the book to all those people, and have it get
lost in the shuffle – I want to
send a copy of the book itself.
How you can help!
-
You
can help crowdfund my project!
-
You
can spread the word about Contested Land, Contested Memory via email, Facebook, or Twitter! (Contact me via the Comments section if
you’d like me to send you an html email describing the book to forward to your
networks.)
-
You
can share this campaign with your networks!
-
If
you’ve read the book, you can write a review on Amazon.com or Goodreads!
Many thanks for considering supporting me! Any help you can
offer is very much appreciated.
And a special thank you to my wonderful Indiegogo Team:
Franca, Tim, Jenny, and Claire, and to the awesome Julia Dogra-Brazell for
contributing the pitch video.