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In this episode, Anne Marie interviews memoirist and award-winning poet Jason Sommer. Jason is the author of five poetry collections: most recently, Portulans in the University of Chicago’s Phoenix Poets Series. His two other Phoenix books are Other People’s Troubles, which won the Society of Midland Authors Award and was a finalist for the PEN/USA West Award, and The Man Who Sleeps in My Office, a finalist for Kansas City Star’s William Rockhill Nelson Award.The Laughter of Adam and Eve was published by Southern Illinois University as the winner of the Crab Orchard Review Competition.  Poems from his first collection, Lifting the Stone, from Forest Books, London, have been broadcast on the BBC World Service.

Today, however, Jason talks to Anne Marie about his beautifully written new memoir, Shmuel’s Bridge which will be released March 1 of this year, it is currently available for pre-order. Against the backdrop of the Holocaust, Shmuel’s Bridge sees history through a double lens: the memories of a growing son’s complex relationship with his father, and the meditations of that son who, now grown, finds himself caring for a man losing all connection to a past that must not be forgotten. 

Resources:

Jason Sommer: website: https://jasonsommer.com

Hungary in WWII: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary_in_World_War_II

Why It Matters That Hungary’s Prime Minister Denounced His Country’s Role in the Holocaust: Smithsonian Article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/holocaust-and-hungary-prime-minister-180964139/

Munkacs: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-community-of-munkacs-an-overview

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