Unpacking the Book: Soviet Roots, American Branches
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
6:30–8:30pm
Program Co-Sponsors: The David Berg Foundation, National Book Foundation, and Genesis Philanthropy Group
Media Sponsor: Tablet Magazine
This panel features writers who are part of or write about the Russian American Jewish community. Each year brings a new crop of voices reflecting on Russian Jewish experience in America, and we’re bring together a range of voices with the goal of provoking a discussion about what it means to be a Russian American Jew today and why Russian Jewish literature is such a stand-out in the field. Moderated by Baris Weiss.
Yelena Akhtiorskaya was born in Odessa in 1985 and raised in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from Columbia University. She is the recipient of a Posen Fellowship in Fiction, and her writing has appeared inn+1, The New Republic, Triple Canopy, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City. Panic in a Suitcase (Riverhead) is her debut novel.
Gal Beckerman is the opinion editor at The Forward. His first book, When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September 2010. It was named was one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and the Washington Post, and received both the 2010 National Jewish Book Award and the 2012 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.
Boris Fishman immigrated from the USSR at age nine. He studied Russian literature at Princeton, was on staff at The New Yorker, co-wrote the US Senate’s Hurricane Katrina report, and has received a Fulbright to Turkey. He’s written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Tablet, The Forward, The Jerusalem Report, and many others. A Replacement Life (Harper) is his debut novel. He lives in New York.
Joining us for “Soviet Roots, American Branches” will also be Alina and Jeff Bliumis, who will be photographing guests as an extension of the project featured in their new book, From Selfie to Groupie. Read more about the book below, which will be for sale at the May 19th program.
From Selfie to Groupie by Alina and Jeff Bliumis is a book of photographs and essays that explores the variety and intricacy of Jewish-American identity, beginning with the Russian-Jewish immigrant enclave of Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach and continuing in locations from New York to Philadelphia, Miami, Sonoma Valley, and St.Paul. Thousands of participants have helped make this a vital portrait of the community today — in its many shades, shapes, and sizes — and a collaborative statement about collective identity. From Selfie to Groupie has been made possible with the generous support of Genesis Philanthropy Group.
Hosted at the Jewish Museum in New York City (1109 5th Avenue), Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation brings together some of the finest writers of the day for conversations around contemporary Jewish life and identity. This event is FREE with pay-what-you-want admission and includes wine and refreshments, a book sale and signing, and the opportunity to visit the Jewish Museum galleries on the day of the program; however, space is limited and guests must register in advance.