All under one ‘umbrella’

In his 40 years making documentaries, Tod Lending won Emmys and was nominated for Oscars. Now 65, he is aiming for a bestseller.

Lending’s debut novel, The Umbrella Maker’s Son , was published in February. Set in Poland during WWII, it is the story of teenage Reuven Berkovitz, whose father handcrafts customized umbrellas– just like Lending’s own great-grandfather, Raphael. While the characters are fictional, the author ensured the setting’s authenticity, right down to the bicycle tires.

His 15 documentaries have followed their subjects for years, everywhere from American prisons and schools to Haiti and Madagascar. They share his novel’s theme: struggle, suffering, and resilience. His Oscar-nominated 2000 documentary Legacy resulted in a federal law providing low-income housing for grandparents raising their grandchildren.

His most recent film, Saul & Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band , sparked his desire to tell a Jewish story. “When filming, I went to a Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, where Lendings were buried,” Lending recalled. “They had died in the Warsaw Ghetto. It woke me up to my own history.”

This documentary is also why the novel is so historically accurate. “Saul had grown up in Krakow at that specific time about which I was writing,” Lending said. “I could always pick up the phone and ask him detailed questions.”

Lending, who studied at Columbia College, returned to his native Chicago in 1991, after working in New York and Los Angeles. His next novel, Displaced , will be a crime story set in Chicago. The author spoke with Jewish Chicago about his career, and the inspiration behind his work.

Q: What prompted you to try novels after so many documentaries? 

A: I had just released Saul & Ruby . In March 2020, it had its last screening here in Chicago– before everything shut down. My balloon was kind of popped at that point. I needed to turn inward– and write stories that were bubbling up inside of me. The pandemic was the trigger; I never had the opportunity to carve out a chunk of time to sink my teeth into a novel. Immediately, I latched onto Reuven-and realized this was the story I was meant to tell.

What draws you to stories of struggle and suffering in your films, and now your books?

I grew up in Evanston, a couple blocks north of Howard Street. That was in the mid-to-late ’60s; part of my growing up was the awareness of civil rights and moral justice issues. I grew up with a strong sense of moral justice, and inequities. It was inculcated in my family. I want to tell stories that are important to me– and those are the stories.

What inspired you to set your novel during the Holocaust?  

It deeply connected me to my own Jewish ancestral roots. There must have been an awakening when [my family] went to Poland, where my father’s side is from. I started writing the novel before October 7, [which was] jarring, traumatic, and horrific. In addition to the rising antisemitism [and] ignorance about the Holocaust. This is what Holocaust stories are all about: a detailed examination of what it means to be dehumanized. We cannot be dehumanized again, and we cannot dehumanize others. Otherwise, we become what we detest, fear, and resist.  

To learn more about Tod Lending or to purchase The Umbrella Maker’s Son , visit todlending.com.