ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: Why did Hayoun name her book “The Camel in the Forest”?

Avigail Hayoun, writing as A. E. Hayoun, is an American expat and passionate Zionist who moved to Israel with her family in 2018.  They live in the Negev Desert, which is a little-known area, even to most Israelis.  Her book, The Camel in the Forest: A Memoir from the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, is a series of poems and haikus in which she writes about her walks in the desert and forest and discoveries of the plants and animals that live there, as well as the 11-day war between Israel and Gaza that took place in 2021 and is known as Operation Guardian of the Walls.  The poetic style gives the book an added dimension that is not usually found in traditional memoirs, and allows the reader to better understand Avigail’s feelings and emotions as she discovers the hidden beauty as well as the hazards of her new home.