Greta Beigel

American journalist Greta Beigel is the author of "Kvetch: One Bitch of a Life," a memoir about growing up an Orthodox Jew and gifted pianist in South Africa at the height of apartheid. She also has published the satirical "Mewsings: My Life as a Jewish Cat" (narrating the audio edition, with Michael Hoppe on piano), and "A Jew from Riga," a short story about her Dad's mysterious past in Latvia. Beigel worked for many years as both staff writer and arts editor at the Los Angeles Times, writing mainly about classical music. She has contributed to the New York Times, Oregon Jewish Life, Cat Fancy magazine, among other publications. Her recording of Glazunov's "Theme and Variations for Piano, Opus 72," recorded as a young girl in the Johannesburg studios of the South African Broadcasting Corp. is now an Amazon MP3.