Interview with Vivan Kaplan, Award-Winning Author of Ten Green Bottles: Part II

Why did you choose to tell the story from your mother’s perspective?

Right from the start, the words came to my mind through thoughts of my mother as if she were reflecting on the pivotal events of her life. I began to write in her voice, and in the present tense, not as a story that she might tell me, but how it would be to really relive the years from 1921-1949. How did she feel when those many experiences befell her? Only by projecting myself into her skin and her mind, delving into her senses, could I begin to understand what she had endured. I knew about her life to a great extent, from family stories and anecdotes over my lifetime and I knew her, the motivations and reactions that she would have had in various circumstances. In order to flesh out the events and bring the images to life, I researched considerably into the historical timeline, incidents occurring around her that impacted on her actions and I spoke to others worldwide who had had similar experiences to verify different aspects. As my mother was still alive at that time, I was able to ask her for specific descriptions and details that were unclear to me, and she obliged with her recollections. Then in my own style, I imagined one scene at a time and did my best to recreate it in words as precisely as possible. For dialogue, I created the reasonable expressions of the characters whom I personally knew with added insights that I, as author, wanted to provide.

What kind of reception has the book received since it was published?

I think that it is important to mention my husband, Barry Kaplan. His involvement was crucial in the amazing reception and success of Ten Green Bottles. After the book had been published in Canada by a small press, Robin Brass Studio, in 2002, he decided that the book had significant literary merit and appeal and took on the role as agent for me. He was able to have it republished as a new work in the U.S. by a major publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and also in translation in Hungary. As a result the book was catapulted onto a broader international scale. It then was translated again and published in Germany and Italy.

In 2003 Ten Green Bottles won the Canadian Jewish Book Award. In 2007 the Italian edition won the ADEI-WIZO Literary Award which I received at a lavish presentation in Florence. The world premiere of the stage adaptation will take place at the Al Green Theatre in Toronto in May 2009. In the interim I have had the opportunity to speak to many groups of people, now in the thousands, in numerous venues around Canada, the U.S. and internationally. Book sales are steady and interest in the story and the creative aspects continue to expand. I receive a regular stream of emails in praise of the book and I am delighted to say that both professional and personal reviews have been excellent. I could not have possibly asked for a better response to this first book and I am grateful to all who have helped in its continuing success.