She has won the Janet Savage Blachford Prize, formally known as the Quebec Writer's Foundation Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature, three times: What World is Left (2009), Hate Mail (2014), and Room for One More (2020).
[3][4] Maximilien survived the Holocaust because he was a painter in Holland and was forced to do propaganda art for the Nazis.
[5] She married Chaim Melamed December 16, 1979, and the couple have a daughter named Alicia.
[1] In 1987, Polak began teaching in English and humanities at Marianopolis College, where she has worked since.
Her articles appear regularly in The Montreal Gazette and other Postmedia newspapers across the country.