Join UCPL for our “Stories of Exile” book discussion series, sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. Using Yiddish literature as a portal, the program will feature works in translation that explore narratives which grapple with questions of homelands, journeys, identity, and belonging. Readers will examine three newly translated Yiddish works written in the early 20th Century before diving into a contemporary title with similar themes.
Discussions will be led by Hannah Dinkel, Director of Literary Arts for the Jewish Community Center. Ms. Dinkel completed graduate studies in Germanic languages and literature at Washington University, where she engaged with topics in medieval German literature, German-Jewish literature including exile literature, and holocaust literature. Her passions are historical linguistics, translation studies, and Jewish diasporic literary traditions and languages.
The first discussion will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 5 and focus on In the Land of the Postscript: The Complete Stories of Chava Rosenfarb, translated by Goldie Morgentaler. Subsequent discussions will feature On the Landing: Stories by Yenta Mash, translated by Ellen Cassedy on Oct. 10; The Glatstein Chronicles by Jacob Glatstein, translated by Maier Deshell and Norbert Guterman on Nov. 7; and Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia on Dec. 5.
All events will be held in the auditorium beginning at 6:30 p.m. Copies of the books are available for checkout at UCPL. Contact us at reference@ucitylibrary.org for more info. This series is intended for teens and adults and is free to the public.
The Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” Reading Groups for Public Libraries is a reading and discussion program to engage teens and adults in thinking about experiences of displacement, migration, and diaspora. In this program, librarians organize reading groups to discuss three books of Yiddish literature in translation, and one book related to the experience of a community served by their library.
The Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” Reading Groups for Public Libraries is made possible by a gift from Sharon Karmazin.