Kicking It With Eve Nadel Catarevas, Creator of RENA GLICKMAN, QUEEN OF JUDO

Rena Glickman identified professionally as Rusty Kanokogi was a Jewish woman from Coney Island who grew as much as turn into a judo grasp at a time when the game was strictly for males. Disguised as a person she entered and gained the 1959 YMCA Judo Championship however was pressured to present again her medal when it was found that she was a girl. By no means wanting that to occur to a different feminine she got down to make girls’s judo a well-liked sport around the globe. Her battle for equality resulted within the first Ladies’s Judo World Championship and turning girls’s judo into an Olympic sport.
Since Eve Nadel Catarevas is considered one of my critique companions I used to be fortunate sufficient to be an early reader of this undertaking and so thrilled to see her laborious work repay along with her debut e-book. One fearless decided girl writing about one other fearless decided girl! At present Eve and I talk about the true story RENA GLICKMAN QUEEN OF JUDO:
Was there one factor—a selected scene quote or picture from Rena’s Glickman’s life—that guided you all through the writing course of?
It was a quote. Rusty (I’ve at all times used Rena’s nickname) at all times mentioned “In life you are both the hammer or the nail. Be the hammer.” It would not get extra easy than that!
Whereas researching this e-book which truth stunned you?
Rusty was so dedicated to holding the primary Ladies’s Judo World Championships (at Madison Sq. Backyard) that she mortgaged her own residence.
Why do you assume youngsters can relate to Rusty?
Ladies at present are taught to go after what they need. That wasn’t a basic principle within the Fifties however that is precisely what Rusty did. Obstacles did not deter her. Rusty solid forward.
Which sources had been necessary in creating this biography?
There have been no books on Rusty. I used each journal newspaper and on-line article I might discover. Fortunately I discovered Rusty’s daughter. She was invaluable.
How did you choose the timeframe to your e-book?
Rusty’s childhood was so rife with drama (plenty of it did not make it into the e-book – too darkish) I knew I needed to begin there. The fruits of the story was girls’s judo changing into in the end an Olympic sport.
How did you establish if data needs to be included within the story or the again matter?
Ooh that is an excellent query Karlin. I am unable to inform you how typically I put in and take out data throughout the writing course of. In a single draft it is a part of again matter subsequent draft it is a part of the textual content and at last it is out altogether. However not likely as a result of I am going to have a change of coronary heart and again it goes simply written otherwise. Again matter is the place I put parts which can be related to the topic’s life story however do not serve the story. It is the place I home statistics or inroads made past my topic’s lifetime.
When you might decide the perfect place for a storywalk for this e-book the place would it not be?
The streets of Coney Island the place Rusty grew up the place that helped her turn into an unbiased strong-willed girl who would cease at nothing to realize her dream – and to encourage others to do the identical.
What’s your #1 tip for writing true tales?
Ferret out as a lot supply materials as you’ll be able to. Dig dig then dig some extra. You by no means know when you are going to come throughout that stop-you-in-your-tracks quote or anecdote—the one which pulls the entire story collectively.
What different books would you suggest to readers who love Rena Glickman Queen of Judo?
HER FEARLESS RUN: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Run by Kim Chaffee & Ellen Rooney and BILLIE JEAN!: How Tennis Star Billie Jean King Modified Ladies’s Sports activities by Mara Rockliff & Elizabeth Baddeley.
Thanks Eve for being the hammer (wink!) and for taking the time to talk about this kick-butt biography!
TRUE STORY TIDBITS:
Spirited and empowering this e-book (with its “Kapow!” cowl) is on 4 cabinets in my TrueStory Bookshop:
*Ladies’s Historical past
*Athletes
*Activists
*Jewish Heritage Tales
On daily basis is an effective day for a real story! However listed here are some particular tie-in dates for RENA GLICKMAN QUEEN OF JUDO.
*February (first Wednesday in February): Nationwide Ladies and Ladies in Sports activities Day raises consciousness concerning the optimistic points of sports activities and the continued want to advertise gender equality in each method.
*June 23 (1972): The day Title IX was signed into regulation. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any college or some other training program that receives funding from the federal authorities.
*July 30 (1935): Rena Glickman’s birthday.
*August 21 (2009): YMCA provides Rusty again the medal she was stripped of fifty years earlier.
*September 25 (1988): First Olympic Ladies’s Judo competitors (This was an indication match with no medals. After that Ladies’s Judo turned a full medal Olympic sport.)
*October 28: World Judo Day celebrates the martial artwork and the birthday of its founder Kanō Jigorō.
Eve Nadel Catarevas can also be the creator of WONDERFUL HAIR: The Fantastic thing about Annie Malone illustrated by Felicia Marshall and printed by Creston Books.