Fika With Vicky - Reva Leah Stern - The Water Buffalo That Shed Her Girdle & The Prescott Journals

United Public Radio

Fika with Vicky Welcomes Guest Author Reva Leah Stern to episode 78 Reva has been a writer, editor, director & designer, working in Florida, Kansas City, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles & Toronto. We’ll be discussing all of Reva’s work, but focussing on her creative non-fiction The Water Buffalo That Shed Her Girdle and her mystery/thriller The Prescott Journals. Yes, I’ve read them both and felt drawn in by Reva’s world creating. They’re about life…the unspeakable, the unbearable, as well as the moving on, finding humour and even scandals. Though I think the most scandalous thing of all is that Reva drinks decaffeinated coffee. Imagine! About The Prescott Journals - Secrets run deep in the small town of Prescott, and Sarah Berman, an intrepid city reporter, has stumbled into a culvert of horrendous secrets, vile crimes, and abhorrent antisemitism, in her old hometown. Acting on an irrepressible impulse, she travels there to get the story and get out fast. But she soon learns, it's not that simple. As she reconnects with her past, stories of pain and terror arise and move to the forefront of her riveting investigation. About The Water Buffalo That Shed Her Girdle - Rachel Morganstein forages through her library of muddled thoughts to try and find some semblance of sanity in the odd turn her life has taken. She has just discovered that her youngest child, Aaron, is about to get married and she has not been invited. In the twenty-two years of living at home with his mother and siblings it was never apparent that such a volcanic reaction was brewing in Aaron's mind or heart. But, at twenty-three, hell erupted and Rachel was dubbed Satan. While pondering the depth of her son's rejection, Rachel begins to scrutinize her own childhood memories in the hope of finding a clue as to what could cause such vitriol to surface after so many years. The tumultuous train wreck of Rachel's life steams down the track carrying us through tunnels of dry wit, untapped sadness and sanguine arrivals. This Water Buffalo has indeed stepped away from the herd while searching for an oasis. About Reva - Ms. Stern was Artistic Director of a Toronto theatre for over twenty years. She has been a Guest Director in Florida, Kansas City, Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles and has collaborated with such notable writers as Isaac Bashevis Singer, Arthur Marx, William Gibson, and Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. She has written & directed several original stage plays, and has directed, produced, & designed over 100 plays & directed over 40 television series episodes. Ms. Stern was Regional Casting Director for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and Los Angeles from 1975 to 1993. She has been a guest speaker at esteemed venues such as The University of Miami, the Actor Workshop, New Play Festival in New York City, & the Playwright Conference at the University of Pittsburgh. She’s been privileged to edit many notable writers of screen, stage, and Novels. Her writing and publishing credits include magazines, journals, anthologies, & newspapers including the National Post, Globe and Mail, and Toronto Star. She is the published author of a creative non-fiction, “The Water Buffalo That Shed Her Girdle.” Her second, a mystery novel, “I Say My Name,” was launched in the summer of 2021. Her latest mystery/thriller, The Prescott Journals,; andwas optioned for the screen by a US producer and was published in May of 2023. Her next project is a collection of short stories, “The Strange Spectrum of Mysterious Mishaps.”