Michelle Cameron’s The Fruit of Her Hands: the Story of Shira of Ashkenaz was published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, in September 2009. Based on the life of the author’s thirteenth-century ancestor, Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, a renowned Jewish scholar of medieval Europe, this is the richly dramatic fictional story of Rabbi Meir’s wife, Shira, a devout but rebellious woman who preserves her religious traditions as she and her family witness the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe.
Michelle’s first full-length novel in verse, In the Shadow of the Globe, was published by Lit Pot Press, Inc., in late 2003. It was named as the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s 2003-4 Winter Book Selection. In addition, it has been a performance piece in various venues, including the Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s Shakespeare Benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, as part of the Drew University’s colloquium, Shakespeare in Performance II, the 2004 College of Saint Elizabeth’s Alumnae/i Weekend (acted by Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey actors), the Vintage Players, and at the Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway in Cape May in 2005.
Her third book, Beyond the Ghetto Gates, will be published by SheWrites Press in the spring of 2020. As Napoleon Bonaparte campaigns in Italy in 1796-7, he frees the country’s Jews from their repressive ghetto. This unleashes a clash of cultures between Jews and Catholics, resulting in bloody riots, murder attempts, and even star-crossed love…
Michelle is a director of The Writers Circle, which offers creative writing to kids and adults in Summit, South Orange, Maplewood, Montclair and Morristown. She teaches novel classes to adults and classes to children and teens at MONDO Summit. She is also a freelance writer and editor, handling everything from corporate writing to creative editing.
Michelle lives in New Jersey with her husband. She has two grown sons of whom she is inordinately proud.
