ABOUT ME

Hi! I’m Tanya. I’m a writer.

I write essays, opinion pieces, and articles on topics that I feel passionate about and for brands and publications I connect with.

I’m a parent to two children (currently aged 8 and 2) so I write a lot about parenting. Some of the issues I’ve written about are special needs parenting, parent-child relationship, dealing with perfectionism, selective mutism, kids and technology, parenting in a relaxed and laid back way, finding your own unique way to parent and different cultural approaches parenting.

Speaking of different cultures, I’ve moved 13 times in my life and have lived in five countries and many different cities. I spent most of my childhood in Russia, my adolescence and young adulthood in Israel, and most of my adult life in Canada, US and now UK. I’ve written about cultural identity, Judaism and about the challenge of maintaining your sense of identity when living outside of your home culture.

Before I was a writer, I was a linguist. I earned my PhD in Linguistics from the University of Toronto where I specialised on a Oji-Cree, an Indigenous Canadian language. Besides Oji-Cree and English, I also speak Russian (my native language), Hebrew, and a bit of Spanish and French. And a bit of Latin and Sanskrit – if only there were more people in the world to speak them to. My passion for languages and linguistics informs both my creative and personal life. My children are growing up trilingual (English, Russian and Hebrew) and I’m constantly looking for ways to expose them to more languages and cultures. Languages and language learning are another topic I write about.

When I’m not writing or reading I can be found staring at the wall and wondering what else I could write or read.

No, that’s a bit of an exaggeration of my nerdiness. I do have a life beyond the written word. I like hanging out with my kids. I’m a huge fan of South Park and The Bing Bang Theory. I like picture books. If you’re ever unsure what to get me for my birthday, I can always use another picture book. I like to draw and paint, especially portraits. My secret big dream is to become a street artist and draw portraits of passersby the whole day.

I hate it when my toast is not buttered on all corners.