Ani Tuzman is an award-winning poet, writing mentor, and author of The Tremble of Love: A Novel of the Baal Shem Tov and Angels on the Clothesline, A Memoir.
Ani grew up on a back-road chicken farm, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. At the age of eight, she began writing to an invisible companion, filling page after page with her questions about a world darkened by the shadow of the Holocaust. But there was also the ecstasy of rain, the dance of the willow in the wind, the stars illuminating the night sky. Writing about it all in the silent, unconditional embrace of nature became Ani’s path to the light.
Ani’s deep appreciation for the gifts of writing, coupled with her desire to nurture the spirits and creativity of children, led her to found the Dance of the Letters Writing Center, where for over 40 years she has provided welcoming and joyous spaces for people of all ages to find and free the voices of their hearts through writing.
Being awakened to the practice of meditation proved the perfect complement to writing, revealing a direct path to the inner wellsprings of love and creativity.
Along the way, Tuzman became captivated by legends of an eighteenth-century Eastern European mystic rabbi known as the Baal Shem Tov. A Kabbalist, he taught that divine sparks are hidden everywhere, and it is one’s sacred duty to find and free the energy in these sparks whose essence is love. When Ani turned fifty, she experienced an inner call to write about this spiritual master. Her literary, historical novel The Tremble of Love: A Novel of the Baal Shem Tov, is the response to that call.
The Tremble of Love: A Novel of the Baal Shem Tov, a work of transformative fiction, is a testament to the inextinguishable fire of love. Although people and their institutions may be devastated, as was the case with Eastern European Jewry and with other cultures throughout history, the human capacity to love and to heal cannot be defeated.
Ani’s unexpected memoir Angels on the Clothesline is an intimate account of vulnerability, creativity, and irrepressible resilience. Written in compelling vignettes, Angels on the Clothesline arouses awe for the human spirit—revealing how easily we can wound and be wounded and, through all this, choose to love. Although a very different book from her novel, both books invite readers into an experience of the compassionate love that can free us.
Ani lives in New England, where she relishes meditation, long walks in the changing seasons, her changing grandchildren, meditation, and inspiring others to find and free their voices.
Learn more about and connect with Ani at www.anituzman.com.
