“What does it take for a woman to not be defeated when the whole world is telling her to sit down and mind her manners?” This is the question that Rachel Kadish, author of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award-winning historical novel of The Weight of Ink, wanted to answer when she sat down twelve years ago to write this ambitious and mesmerizing novel. In this interview, Emily Cataneo, JWA’s Social Media Manager, speaks to Kadish about her process, the importance of plot, and the weight of being a woman writer, in both the 17th century and the 21st.

Rachel Kadish’s The Weight of Ink is the July pick for JWA's book club. See JWA’s discussion questions for the book.