Efrem Sigel
AUTHOR

Efrem Sigel

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My latest book, “Juror Number 2: The Story of a Murder, the Agony of a Neighborhood” marks a striking change of direction. After concentrating on fiction for the past 20 years, I found myself impelled to research and write this very personal memoir of my jury service and my subsequent search for why. Why the young men in East Harlem who were caught up in this murder trial wound up cutting school, joining gangs, selling drugs and going to jail. It's a quest that took me into housing projects, police precincts and schools and has changed my life.

My most recent novel, “The Disappearance" (The Permanent Press), came out in 2009--36 years after my first novel, "The Kermanshah Transfer" (Macmillan). I do have a third novel in the works, as well as a collection of short stories. But I’ll continue to research and write about some of the issues that were central to “Juror Number 2,” namely what makes for healthy families, what are the alternatives to violence in troubled neighborhoods, and how can young people take advantage of true educational opportunities.

After a 30-year in business publishing and business information services, I was very fortunate to have the time, starting around the year 2000, to devote to writing. I began writing short stories, and publishing them (30 so far) in various literary journals. Soon thereafter, I started work in earnest on an idea that had intrigued me for years: the disappearance of a teenage boy from his family's vacation home.

The idea for “The Disappearance” came to me while standing in front of a house (similar to the one depicted in the book) on a flawless August day, in a tiny hamlet in Western Massachusetts--the kind of place where, seemingly, nothing ever happens. It was the juxtaposition between this idyllic setting and the awful event, the disappearance of child, that provided the central tension in "The Disappearance" and that drove me to complete the book.

I grew up in Staten Island, NY, graduated from Curtis High School, then from Harvard College. After college I volunteered for the Peace Corps, serving two years as a teacher of English in the Ivory Coast. That experience and setting have formed the backdrop for several of my published short stories, including one entitled "Let There Be Light," a prizewinner in a national short story competition. I'm married to Frederica Evan and we have two sons, Jonathan and Matthew, and four grandchildren, two boys and two girls.

I live in New York City and am active as a volunteer (and board member) for various education and youth development organizations under the auspices of the Harvard Business School Club of NY.
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