Food Writer & Editor
My fiction and non-fiction has been published in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. I am the Food Writing Editor for Zest! a section of Pangyrus literary journal, and President of the Boston Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA). Of late, I’ve been teaching virtual cooking classes. Though I don't only write about food, I will always write about food. For information about editorial services, writing support, and cooking classes, contact me at debnorkin@gmail.com
Literary Event Host
Organizing and hosting an event is like throwing a fabulous party. There's laughter, food, drink and always stimulating conversation. Authors get the opportunity to promote their books and readers get questions answered for a richer understanding of the work. In addition to author events, I lead critique groups and teach workshops. I believe intellectual nourishment is vital to a healthy mind, especially for writers and artists. If you're interested in joining a group, have an idea for an event and would like to collaborate, or would like me to host an event, please contact me at debnorkin@gmail.com.
It's all about Food
If one were to examine my DNA with an electron microscope, I imagine it would be held together with strings of linguini. I started cooking at 10, have a BS in Nutrition from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a diploma from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. When I look at plump, ripe tomatoes, glossy-skinned red and green peppers, and firm, crisp cucumbers, I don’t see vegetables, I see gazpacho. I taste the tart bite of sherry vinegar that opens the flavors and brings the soup to life. I remember Barcelona, drinking wine with my family, and learning to add bread crumbs to give the dish more body. Food is more than sustenance. It is love, it is longing, it is all emotions. It is stories.
Gardening & Nature
When I burrow my hands into cool spring soil I am connected to the earth and every living thing upon it. I find peace in a chlorophyl-scented, mossy forest with Rocco, my furry companion, by my side. My herb garden yields chives for omelets, and basil for bruschetta. I plant twice as many flowers as I want because bunnies will munch my tulips and groundhogs will nibble my petunias. I have learned not to fight Mother Nature. She always wins.
Works
Publications
Liver and Onions — Article by Deborah Norkin
Zest! — Pangyrus
Food Writing Editor
Zest is the food writing section of Pangyrus, a Boston based literary magazine. We publish food-themed memoir, fiction, and poetry. Without air, water, and food, there is no life. Of these three vital components, food stands alone as a cultural touchstone. Every person on this planet has a food memory. Your stories are precious. Write them down and submit them to Zest! I read every story and respond with feedback.
www.zest!.com
Santé Magazine
Editorial director
If you love working in the restaurant or hospitality industry you’re likely an adrenaline junkie. There’s nothing like the buzz of a busy restaurant on a Saturday night, when you’re fully booked and fully staffed. You’re generous. To dedicate your career to serving others is to give something of yourself on every plate. You’re a risk taker. You sacrifice days, hours, weeks, even years to a venture as high risk as they come. The restaurant business is vital, difficult, brilliant. Santé aims to entertain, and inform those who choose the hospitality industry as a way of life with the goal of helping you to improve your bottom line.
2017 Spring Issue
2017 Fall Issue
2017 Winter Issue
2018 Spring ISSUE
Sante Magazine — Editorial & Writing by Deborah Norkin
Was my House Cursed? — Article by Deborah Norkin
Boston Globe
Globe Correspondent
The center-entrance brick-front Sudbury Colonial with the circular drive was suspiciously grander than our pocketbook. It was also, after months of searching, the first home my husband and I both liked.
“That can’t be the right price,” I said awed by the two-story marble-tiled foyer with the curved staircase.
“It’s bank owned,” our realtor said, her voice an echo in the vacant room. “They probably want to unload it before winter.”
bostonglobe.com
Wicked Local — Walpole
Correspondent
Few images evoke as strong a sense of time and place as the classic New England farm. In Massachusetts we, as a community, value dwellings that have withstood the passing centuries. Land, however, is a different story. Acres are often lost to development.
walpole.wickedlocal.com
Antique 50 acre farmhouse — Articles by Deborah Norkin
The Last First — Written Piece by Deborah Norkin
The Writer’s Loft Anthology
2nd place winner & Contributing Author
I want to scream at the nurses, at the doctors, even at the people who bring her meals.
This husk of a human is not Laura.
Laura’s eyes are clear and blue, not cloudy. They gleam with mischief. When we were sixteen, there wasn’t a boy in town who didn’t turn their head when she sauntered by, not because she was the prettiest, but because with Laura, things you never in a million years dreamed could happen, seemed possible.
— Deborah Norkin, The Last First