iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A whole stack of events - IRL for the UK paperback (out very soon!) & virtual in the US. Do come!

List of book events (also at www.samanthaellis.me.uk/events)

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The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing @oxfordlifewriting.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

How can you write against cultural erasure? Samantha Ellis discusses Chopping Onions on My Heart, her memoir about a disappearing language, family history and Iraqi Jewish culture @ochjs.bsky.social 📅 27 Oct | 🕑 14:00 📍 @wolfsonoxford.bsky.social & online 🔗 buff.ly/mnO97FM

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Read @natashawalter.bsky.social’s book & reconnect with your hope.

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Jess Gofton @jessgofton.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I will never shut up about how fantastic yet utterly overlooked Anne Brontë is, which meant all my friends had to put up with me gushing about her yet again after I read TAKE COURAGE: ANNE BRONTË AND THE ART OF LIFE by @samanthaellis.bsky.social. A brilliantly done biography.

The front cover of TAKE COURAGE: ANNE BRONTË AND THE FIRE OF LIFE by Samantha Ellis

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Thank you - belatedly! - for this lovely review.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

UK readers, my book is a kindle monthly deal for June!

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Prof Bob Davis @rokewood.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Now I am most certainly not a foodie, but this smart episode of BBCFreeThinking takes us deep into the meanings of food. @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social is joined by John Lanchester, Felicity Cloake, @barrycsmith.bsky.social, Suki Finn, @samanthaellis.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Thinking with Food

Felicity Cloake, John Lanchester, Prof Barry Smith, Suki Finn and Samantha Ellis.

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WhoJewThinkYouAre Podcast @whojewthinkur.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Thanks to @jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk for this one. New episode: Baghdad to the Andes, live at Jewish Book Week with @samanthaellis.bsky.social & Jordan Salama on Arab Jewish lives & what we carry across generations. #Shavuot felt like the right moment. Out now. Links in Bio. #ShabbatShalom

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I gather there’s been some *discourse* (WHY did we all agree to use this word all the time?) which I missed entirely but I’ve enjoyed reading everyone else’s top tens so here’s mine.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Tuesday’s event is postponed because of the tube strike - new date coming!

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I’ve got three events coming up - all in London - do come! 19th May (next week!) I’ll be at Waterstones Finchley Road talking about Chopping Onions on my Heart with Viv Groskop. 6th and 7th June I’m doing two events at Jaipur Literary Festival London, one on the Brontës, one on Chopping Onions.

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James Barr @jamesbarr.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

If only there were a book, I hear you say, about the reality of the special relationship and the folly of relying on the Americans as allies.

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James Ingram @ingyingram.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Just started reading this, and it's already extraordinary "Chopping Onions on My Heart" by @samanthaellis.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a... #JewSky #BookSky

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Be Funny Or Die is available again, at last, by the way. No physical version yet, but all the ones and zeroes are out there.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

“Self-market” & “self-promote” makes it sound like writers are egomaniacs wanting attention / sales but more often we have lovingly made books we want to share & sometimes our work is about untold stories or important issues which we are trying to get across.

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Eylan Ezekiel @eylanezekiel.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Fantastic to talk to Jordan Salama and @samanthaellis.bsky.social at @jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk. Their books, 'Stranger in the Desert' and 'Chopping Onions on my Heart' are wonderful, so it was a pleasure to get to know them both better. Subscribe now to hear our conversation on the pod.

Three people seated on a stage.Left- Man, white, dark jacket and brown trousers,dark hair. Middle - woman pink cardigan, brown curly hair. Right, man, bald, yellow cardigan.

Big background on the screen says Who Jew Think You Are

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I’m not on here much (is anyone else feeling too much platform exhaustion?) but I have a few events coming up including one this Sunday which was sold out but now has tickets as we’ve been moved to a bigger room! Do come. All the details here: www.samanthaellis.me.uk/events

samanthaellis.me.uk

Events — Samantha Ellis

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BookishlyJewish @bookishlyjewish.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

While Samantha Ellis’s memoir ALWAYS CARRY SALT is ostensibly about Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, it is also about the culture that produced it, and living in a diaspora that finds your existence inconvenient. I flew through it. bookishlyjewish.com/?p=3110

Navy bar lounge with a copy of always carry salt and a good luck eye charm next to it.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Really enjoyed talking to @alexvont.bsky.social about the novel. Do have a listen. And if you’d like to hear my thoughts on the film I will also be on Front Row tonight to review it.

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Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 31/01/2026

We asked the extraordinary and rightly celebrated author Marilynne Robinson to respond to events in Minneapolis. She immediately sent us a forceful and utterly direct cri de coeur. The Weekend Essay as.ft.com/r/afe4fee8-1...

as.ft.com

Marilynne Robinson: The killings in Minneapolis

[FREE TO READ] As American cities have been left reeling by ICE federal agents, the acclaimed novelist explores the deeper conflict behind Donald Trump’s show of force

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Lee Randall @leerandall.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Currently reading these. Both excellent. Samantha never misses: her books are musts to read.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Two new recipes for the Jewish Food Society! www.jewishfoodsociety.org/stories/writ...

My mother as a small girl on a fairground horse with her father in Iraq in the 1950s

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Latest substack in which in the grand tradition of how to titles I don’t really tell you how to ward off the evil eye but I do recommend a lot of books.

substack.com

How to ward off the Evil Eye

And a LOT of book recs

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

“An urgent and tender exploration of cultural extinction” - lovely review from Shamar Hill at the @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social. www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/always-...

jewishbookcouncil.org

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture

Join us on Thursday January 15th at 7 p.m.

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Jewish Book Council @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Join us this Thursday January 15th at 7p.m. ET for a conversation with @samanthaellis.bsky.social and Jordan Salama. The two will be in conversation on Ellis's powerful new memoir, ALWAYS CARRY SALT. Reserve your spot today! bit.ly/492B17W

bit.ly

Always Carry Salt: Samantha Ellis in Conversation with Jordan Salama

Join acclaimed authors Samantha Ellis and Jordan Salama as they discuss Ellis's powerful new memoir Always Carry Salt. In this moving meditation on language and resilience, Ellis - the dau

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Jewish Book Council @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Next week! Join us on Thursday January 15th at 7p.m. ET for a conversation with Samantha Ellis and Jordan Salama. The two will be in conversation on Ellis's powerful new memoir, ALWAYS CARRY SALT. Reserve your spot today! bit.ly/492B17W

bit.ly

Always Carry Salt: Samantha Ellis in Conversation with Jordan Salama

Join acclaimed authors Samantha Ellis and Jordan Salama as they discuss Ellis's powerful new memoir Always Carry Salt. In this moving meditation on language and resilience, Ellis - the dau

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BookishlyJewish @bookishlyjewish.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Happy release day to The Star a society by Gabriella Saab and Always Carry Salt by @samanthaellis.bsky.social amzn.to/4aH86Zr amzn.to/49HpJr1

A yellow background with scattered gold confetti. Title in gold reads “happy release day” and below are the book covers for The Star Society and Always Carry Salt

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Loved going on the Five Books podcast - my picks included @laurenelkin.bsky.social’s wonderful novel Scaffolding.

Picture of me and the book cover for Always Carry Salt

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Always Carry Salt is out today in the US with the amazing @pegasus-books.bsky.social!

Picture of blue and white book cover with a quote from Claudia Roden

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Emily Midorikawa @emilymidorikawa.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I enjoyed this New Year essay by @samanthaellis.bsky.social with its focus on training & recovery, rereading & rewriting. And I completely agree with Samantha about this: 'I’m a huge advocate of rereading and how books change for you when you go back to them, and what that can give you.'

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Jewish Book Council @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

You're invited! ✉ Join us on Thursday January 15th at 7p.m. ET for a conversation with Samantha Ellis and Jordan Salama. The two will be in conversation on Ellis's powerful new memoir, ALWAYS CARRY SALT. Reserve your spot today! bit.ly/492B17W

bit.ly

Always Carry Salt: Samantha Ellis in Conversation with Jordan Salama

Join acclaimed authors Samantha Ellis and Jordan Salama as they discuss Ellis's powerful new memoir Always Carry Salt. In this moving meditation on language and resilience, Ellis - the dau

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

So I think Wuthering Heights is unfilmable because it’s just too complex & holds a tension on the page between the love story & the destructive bleak darkness…that doesn’t mean I won’t be watching this & every film about it ever. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

theguardian.com

‘It’s no romcom’: why the real Wuthering Heights is too extreme for the screen

The new film adaptation by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell looks set to be provocative – but nowhere near as shocking as Emily Brontë’s original

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

TOND is here, and it’s put the Broken Vell podcast channel back in the top ten! Thanks to everyone who supports us on patreon.com/brokenveil and everyone who’s listened… especially if they’ve told a friend. It’s like The Ring. Right? You have to pass it on.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

If you want to be your family’s unofficial archivist - or even just to write down a few recipes - here’s everything I know about how to do it.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Since writing Chopping Onions on my Heart, lots of people have told me or asked me about how to explore their own family’s stories so I gathered up everything I learned about it for @psyche.co.

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

On quinces & on getting unstuck inspired by Sarah Solemani’s film about Mashhadi Jews & The Americans…& more things I liked lately.

open.substack.com

It's quince season

and I am GETTING UNSTUCK!

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Samantha Ellis @samanthaellis.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

I’ve made a list of books I read while writing mine on @bookshop.org - for all your Chanukah / other gifting needs! uk.bookshop.org/lists/books-...

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