Maggie Anton

Maggie Anton is an award-winning author of historical fiction, as well as a Talmud scholar with expertise in Jewish women's history. She was born Margaret Antonofsky in Los Angeles, California, where she still resides. In 1992 she joined a women's Talmud class taught by Rachel Adler. There, to her surprise, she fell in love with Talmud, a passion that has continued unabated for thirty years. Intrigued that the great Jewish scholar Rashi had no sons, only daughters, she started researching the family and their community. Thus the award-winning trilogy, "Rashi's Daughters," was born, to be followed by National Jewish Book Award finalist, "Rav Hisda's Daughter: Apprentice" and its sequel, "Enchantress." Then she switched to nonfiction, winning the Gold Ben Franklin Award in the religion category for "Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You-Know What," a lighthearted in-depth tour of sexuality within the Talmud. Her latest work is "The Choice: A Novel of Love, Faith and the Talmud," a fair-use transformative derivative of Chaim Potok’s early novels. Since 2005, Anton has lectured about the research behind her books at hundreds of venues throughout North America, Europe and Israel. She still studies women and Talmud, albeit mostly online. Her favorite Talmud learning sites are Daf Shevui and Mishna Yomit, provided daily via email by the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem