Marina Temkina is considered one of the most important Russian poets of her generation. Born in St. Petersburg, she emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1978 and now lives in New York. Temkina published five books of poetry. She writes on gender, Russian-Jewish identity, and immigration with a sense of history lived through and […]
Sayed Kashua was born in the Arab town of Tira in central Israel. He has become one of the most important contemporary voices on the complexities of identity through his three novels, his column in the Ha’aretz newspaper, and the groundbreaking Israeli sitcom Arab Labor, which he wrote and created. His latest novel, Second Person Singular, was published in […]
Robert Alter’s award-winning translation of the Hebrew Bible continues with the stirring narrative of Israel’s ancient history. To read the books of the Former Prophets in this riveting translation (published by W.W. Norton & Co., 2013) is to discover an entertaining amalgam of hair-raising action and high literary achievement. Alter's immense achievements in scholarship ranging […]
The day culminates with a public reading by award-winning author Thaisa Frank. Heidegger’s Glasses is Frank’s startling, surreal debut novel. Part love story and part historical fiction, Heidegger’s Glasses evocatively reconstructs the landscape of Nazi Germany from an entirely original and haunting vantage point. To register, please click here.
The authors will discuss their recently-released book Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and America by (Indiana University Press, 2014) As a special session of The Townsend Center for Humanities Working Group on Modern Jewish Culture, the program will also address The Magnes’ extensive collection of Jewish-themed postcards, which animate themes of mobility and […]
Rita Kuhn reads from her book Broken Glass, Broken Lives Rita Kuhn lived her childhood and adolescence in Hitler’s Berlin, surviving a cycle of evergrowing dangers for her, her family, and her friends. The people she loved disappeared from one day to the next and left no messages, no farewells, no forwarding addresses. In Broken Glass, Broken […]
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life cordially invites you to an opening reception for Living by The Book The Jewish Bible & the Everyday Power of Text Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 5 pm 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley Jonah and the Whale at the Port of Haifa.jpg E. Abeshaus (1939–2008), Jonah and the […]
San Francisco State University, Jewish Studies & The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life present a book talk by Michael Berkowitz Jews and Photography in Britain Wednesday, October 21, 5:30 PM Reception to follow Michael Berkowitz is a Professor of Modern Jewish History at University College, London. His current work on the engagement of […]
The passionate, gripping, true story of one man’s single-minded quest to reclaim what the Nazis stole from his family, their beloved art collection, and to restore their legacy. Simon Goodman’s grandparents came from German-Jewish banking dynasties and perished in concentration camps. And that’s almost all he knew about them—his father rarely spoke of their family […]
Author Michal Lemberger will read from and discuss her new book, After Abel and Other Stories. Vividly reimagined with startling contemporary clarity, this debut collection of short stories gives voice to silent, often-marginalized biblical women: their ambitions, their love for their children, their values, their tremendous struggles, and their challenges. Lemberger’s stories honor the integrity of the […]
Author and journalist Frances Dinkelspiel explores the Jewish connections in the history uncovered by her recent NY Times bestseller book, Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California (St. Martin’s Press 2015), including Benjamin Dreyfus’ pioneering of kosher wine production in the Golden State, Isaias Hellman and Daniel Mayer’s controlling […]
Author and journalist Ingrid Carlberg will talk about her recently published book, Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust (MacLehose Press 2016). Read the Kirkus review here. Ingrid Carlberg's biography of Raoul Wallenberg was awarded the August Prize for nonfiction and the Swedish Academy's Axel Hirsch Prize. Carlberg's […]
