Books

Out of the Dark
This collection offers a cycle of poems about the poet who, as a child survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, has had to live with the memories of the Holocaust all her life. The first section describes the evils of suffering and prejudice, of war and destruction, and the loss of loved ones, even the loss of self. “This is a ghetto / where humans live in neglected cages / within a fire that burns sleep out of their eyes.” The second section brings glimmers of light in finding ways to move towards a better, fuller life, as the poet realizes “We must always seek / new ways / of reaching one another / though each of us / is a world unto itself.” The third section offers a tribute to the artists and poets who have come before and who have left behind their gifts for us. It recognizes the connections and love within the family and the ability to live and love. “I run toward you / carrying the glow of marigolds / lighting your path to my love.”

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Mouth of Truth
Lillian Boraks-Nemetz’s controversial new novel speaks to the power of truth and justice. Mouth of Truth — a gripping tale of impossible choices, divided loyalties and unimaginable horrors — reveals buried family secrets. Batya, the protagonist, has suffered discrimination, sexual, verbal and psychological abuse. Despite this, she has been trying to live a normal Canadian life. One day, a friend confronts her with a secret revelation about her father, which makes her question her family history, its legacy of guilt, and her own survival. Batya approaches a crisis brought on by series of events that trigger memories of her family s dark past. Shocked and betrayed, she forsakes her current life and embarks on a journey of discovery to look for the truth in hope of finding what lies behind the terrible secret with which she must cope before she can feel love, find healing and peace.
The Old Brown Suitcase
Ronsdale Press

Sheila A. Egoff Prize in Children’s Literature

Rachel Bassin Prize, Toronto

“At the bottom of the suitcase were several poems and stories I had written, and then some photos……………….I thought of the burnt pictures of my childhood and tried to rekindle them in my mind, like the candles that people light in memory of the departed. And I could see them before me, rising out of flames.”

The Sunflower Diary
Roussan Publishers, 1999

1999, Nominated by the Ontario Library Association for The Red Maple Award.

Cher Soleil,
September 7th, 1949

I feel disconnected from this place, and even from myself. It’s like being in a prison surrounded by a brick wall. Like during the war. I seem to be observing myself as some stranger, who carries out her prescribed tasks and participates in events over which she has no control.
To be hiding in an institution as if I have nowhere else to go! There are really two of me here: Elizabeth and Slava. Just as there were two of me there: Irena and Slava.

(pg 46-47)

The Lenski File
Roussan Publishers, October 2000

The world I am in now cannot be interrupted. It is filled with poetry and Tad.
I am no longer the childlike Slava of Montreal, or the struggling Elizabeth at boarding school in Victoria. I feel changed in a way I don’t understand. Tad seems a little detached at times and I feel insecure about his feelings for me. Adam, from this vantage point, is but a pin on the map of my life. Joshua is still there, like a sunflower in my grandfather’s garden that I loved but that now only exists in memory.

Garden of Steel
Poems by Jagna Boraks (Lillian Boraks-Nemetz).
Ghost Children
Poems, published by Ronsdale Press, Summer 2000

Excerpt below.

Insomnia

The tooth of night
pierces my flowering dream
a black sunflower
bleeds inside my head

Slava
French translation of The Old Brown Suitcase

Published by Les editions Heritages Inc. Montreal, Quebec, 1996. Translated by Michele Marineau

Je songeai aux images de mon enfance detruites par les flammes, et je tantai de les ranimer dans mon esprit, comme ces bougies que les gens allument en souvenir des defunts. Je vis ces images devant moi, emergeant clairment des flammes.

Dark Times
Poems by Waclaw Iwaniuk. Translated from the Polish by Jagna Boraks (Lillian Boraks-Nemetz) and others. Published by Houslow Press.
Astrologer in the Underground
Poems by Andrzej Busza. Translated from the Polish by Jagna Boraks (Lillian Boraks-Nemetz) and Michael Bullock. Ohio University Press.
Tapestry of Hope
An Anthology of Holocaust Writing for Young People

Editors: Lillian Boraks-Nemetz and Irene N. Watts.

Published by Tundra Books

– Winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award, in Holocaust Studies, 2004
– Toronto Jewish Book awards: Isaac Frischwasser memorial Award for Young Adult fiction, 2004
– Recognized as Honour Book for 2004 by the International Association of Libraries
– Finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Award, BC Book Prizes 2004
– Honour Book: Society of School Librarians International Awards 2003
– Shortlisted: Sheila Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
– Shortlisted: Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult fiction Award 2004
-Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction tit les 2003
Tapestry of Hope was also nominated for the 2005 Stellar Book Award

Other Works
<b<Film
Never Forget to Lie – a 2013 PBS Frontline documentary about Polish child survivors of the Holocaust.
– “Lillian Boraks-Nemetz: “My Holocaust Survival”

Lillian has also appeared in films: Hidden in PolandMy Mother, My HeroPoetry of Resilience.

Translations

  • From the Polish, Waclaw Iwaniuk, Lillian Boraks-Nemetz (as Jagna Boraks) Canadian Poets from A to Z. Edited and introduced by P. K. Page
  • Six poems from the Polish, Waclaw Iwaniuk, as Jagna Boraks
  • Seven Polish-Canadian Poets, 1984
  • Dark Times, poetry of Waclaw Iwaniuk
  • Astrologer in the Underground, poetry of Andrzej Busza

Included in Anthologies

  • A poem: An Ancestral Dance In Jewish Prague
    in Psychoanalytic Perspectives: A Journal of Integration and Innovation. Volume 5, Winter 2007.
  • The Old Brown Suitcase 
    in 
    Girls Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers. Edited by Sarah Ellis, 2001.
  • A Speech to the British Columbia Legislature, May 2000: A Long Road to Freedom
    in Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region.
  • Condensed Novella Nina de Luna 
    in 
    Aquelarre, Latin American Womens magazine, 1992
  • 2 poems, in Hong Kong Literature Monthly
  • An essay: The Child, as the Hero/Victim of the Dark Planet The Holocaust  in CCL, no 95, Vol 25:3
  • Living Legacies,  Vol lV Liz Pearl, 2014 
  • Hoping for Home Scholastic Canada, 2011
  • Terre d’accueil, Terre d’espoir, Scholastic  Canada,2012
  • Girls’ Own , Sarah Ellis, Penguin viking 2001

Works About Lillian

Lillian has had various articles written about her life and work, among them:

  • Life into Fiction: A Profile of Lillian Boraks-Nemetz by Janet Nicol
  • WordWorks: The Voice of British Columbia Writers, Winter 2007.

and many others.