Tony Eprile

Tony Eprile
Born	1955 Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation	Novelist
Education	Connecticut College; Brown University
Genre	Drama, fiction, short stories
Notable awards	Koret Jewish Book Award (2005)

Tony Eprile is a South African and American writer. His 2004 novel, The Persistence of Memory, won the Koret Jewish Book Award in 2005, beating out The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.[1][2]

Early life

Tony Eprile was born in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955 to Jewish parents.[3][4] His mother, Liesel Weil was a from a well-to-do German Jewish family in Frankfurt that were adherents of Liberal Judaism.[5] Amid the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, she emigrated to South Africa in 1936 at the age of seventeen.[5] Eprile's father, Cecil Eprile, a Scottish Jew, also arrived in South Africa in 1936.[5] Cecil was the editor of the Golden City Post, a liberal newspaper catering to a black South African readership and advocating for the end of apartheid.[6][5]

In the late 1960s, he emigrated to England with his parents and brother when he was 12 years-old.[5] The family then emigrated to the United States between 1970 and 1972[7][8] At the age of 17, Eprile then a recent arrival in the United States, took a writing class at college. He produced a South African-themed short story titled, "Cough’s Tokoloshe", with the tokoloshe employed as a metaphor for white fears. Year later, he gave a copy of the story to a visiting poet, Robert Hayden. Hayden invited him to talk to him about the story, and they became friends, with Hayden acting as an important mentor to Eprile.[9]

He attended Connecticut College, graduating with a BA in Anthropology. He later graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Brown University.[10]

Career

Eprile is the author of the 1989 book Temporary Sojourner and Other South African Stories,[11] which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.[12]

His 2004 book The Persistence of Memory[7][13][14] won the Koret Jewish Book Award.[15] Anderson Tepper, writing in The Forward, speculated that the novel "just might prove to be the [South African] Jewish community’s masterpiece."[16] The novel was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.[17] It was also listed as a best book of 2004 by The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.[18]

He has taught at Northwestern University, Williams College, Bennington College, Lesley University, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[19]

He has also published guest columns, book reviews, literary criticism and interviews with writers for titles such as The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, Tablet and The Johannesburg Review of Books.[20][21][22][5][23] He acts as an Editorial Advisory Panel member for The Johannesburg Review of Books with Antjie Krog and Lauren Beukes, among others.[23][24]

Personal life

Eprile lives in Vermont in the United States with his wife, Judith D. Schwartz, whom he married in 1989.[25][26]

Publications

Short stories

• Temporary Sojourner and Other South African Stories (1989)

Novels

• The Persistence of Memory (2004)

References

1. Koret Honors Jewish Writers, Works for Community of Readers The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 14 April 2005
2. Jewish book awards get facelift The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 7 March 2006
3. "the ILANOT Review". www.biu.ac.il.
4. Switzerland), Posen Library of Jewish culture and civilization (Lucerne (20 November 2012). The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 10: 1973-2005. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300135534 – via Google Books.
5. Putting Out the Unwelcome Mat Tablet. 27 February 2017
6. 17 Books to Kick-Start Fall Oprah. 24 August 2018
7. Brawarsky, Sandee (9 September 2004). "'Memory' Shapes Life and History". Jewish Journal.
8. Taliaferro, Frances (13 June 2004). "Laughter and Forgetting". Washington Post (book review).
9. 10 Questions for Tony Eprile The Massachusetts Review. 15 February 2017
10. Tony Eprile Lesley University. Retrieved on 6 September 2024
11. Rochman, Hazel (20 August 1989). "Where Men Are Boys Even Now" – via NYTimes.com.
12. "Eprile, Tony 1955(?)- | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
13. Tait, Theo (8 August 2004). "Truth and Reconciliation". The New York Times.
14. "Ah, but the land is unforgettable". Los Angeles Times. 18 July 2004.
15. "Jewish book awards get facelift". 7 March 2006.
16. South African Jews Begin To Tell Tales The Forward. 24 December 2024
17. 100 Notable Books of the Year The New York Times. 5 December 2004
18. Authors Tony Eprile and Judith D. Schwartz wrap ‘Books for Bennington’ Bennington Banner. 6 July 2009
19. Cornwell, Gareth; Klopper, Dirk; Mackenzie, Craig (13 April 2010). The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231503815 – via Google Books.
20. WHY DID YOU MAKE ME BLACK?' The New York Times. 7 January 1990
21. Gordimer’s Way The Nation. 16 September 2014
22. SECRETS OF A SMALL TOWN IN GERMANY The Washington Post. 26 May 1990
23. [Conversation Issue ‘I know what lurks in the bushes. And that’s how I write the stories’—Jason Reynolds talks to Tony Eprile about resistance and the imagination] The Johannesburg Review of Books. 16 January 2020
24. The JRB: five years, 50 issues, 425 contributors The Johannesburg Review of Books. 2 May 2022
25. about https://www.judithdschwartz.com. Retrieved on 6 September 2024
26. Judith Schwartz Weds Tony Eprile The New York Times. 29 October 1989