Home - Shira Nayman

books by shira

new book coming fall 2024

Shoreline, A memoir of wandering, friendship, and finding home, will be published by Guernica World Editions
Fall, 2024

‘The sheer vibrancy of this book is nothing less than riveting. It is not just brilliant, but its work is deep and beautiful, and has lived in my mind from the first moment I dipped into it: so well written, so imaginative, so very ‘present’ – and so unnerving. A must-read.’

Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary and The Matter with Things

River

River is the story of a fourteen-year-old girl who travels back in time, and across continents, encountering her maternal forbears when they were her age.

Awake in the Dark

Bold and deeply affecting, Awake in the Dark is a provocative and haunting work of fiction about who we are and how we are formed by history.

The Listener

Set against the backdrop of the insanity of war, The Listener explores the havoc historical trauma plays with the psyche, and illuminates the uncertain boundary between sanity and insanity.

A Mind of Winter

A Mind of Winter is a complex, page-turning, literary psychological thriller, which takes up a rich array of themes: the ways in which we choose our beliefs and build our lives and the ways in which circumstances inevitably shape personal identity and destiny.

upcoming event

Awake in the Dark: a theatre concert work

A new work adapted from Nayman’s collection of short stories, with music composed by Ben Moore. Two shows only, at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in downtown Brooklyn.

Starring Juliana Sass and Merritt Janson, directed by Bill Barclay, produced by Trey Tetreault and Shira Nayman, set design by Daniel Prosky.

Performance dates on Thursday, December 14th, 7:00pm and Friday, December 15th, 7:00pm.

Tickets are $25, with a $40 family ticket. Live-streaming tickets are $15. All ticket sale proceeds will go to 1st UU.

Purchase Tickets

Interweaving theater and chamber music, this piece explores one woman’s experience
of the impact of secrets and hidden pain born of collective, socio-historical trauma.

View Press Kit

“I’m shaken by Shira Nayman’s brilliant and mystical stories."

Ursula Hegi

"There is breathtaking storytelling here, replete with psychological detail and stunning clarity."

Library Journal

“It is to Nayman’s great credit that her subtle handling of extremely dramatic material allows the reader to be deeply moved without feeling manipulated."

San Francisco Chronicle

“Nayman’s stories hauntingly and beautifully unveil the depths of her characters. Each story is full of twists and secrets, yet each has an openess that makes history immediate. "

Book Passage

Meet Shira

Born in South Africa, Shira Nayman grew up in Australia and lives in Brooklyn with her husband. She is a clinical psychologist, and has also worked as a marketing consultant.

Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, New England Review, and Boulevard. She is the recipient of three year-long grants from the Australia Council for the Arts Literature Board, and is a recent MacDowell Fellow.

About the Author