Writers (Audio)

In "Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press" Eddy Portnoy mines century-old Yiddish newspapers to expose the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34806]

Rachel Kadish is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction, author of several novels and a novella. Her fiction work has won the National Jewish Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize, the John Gardner Fiction Prize, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award. She discusses her latest book, "The Weight of Ink," a work of historical fiction set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34680]

The former editor of Poetry Magazine, Christian Wiman is both a poet and an essayist who teaches Literature and Religion at Yale Divinity School. In an interview he discussed what he hopes readers might take from his work: I have no illusions about adding to sophisticated theological thinking. But I think there are a ton of people out there who are what you might call unbelieving believers, people whose consciousness is completely modern and yet who have this strong spiritual hunger in them. I would like to say something helpful to those people.

His most recent book is He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art, released in 2018. Other books include My Bright Abyss, Ambition and Survival, Every Riven Thing, Hammer is the Prayer, Hard Night, and The Long Home. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33947]

E.J. Dionne writes about politics in a twice-weekly column for the Washington Post, and is a government professor at Georgetown University, a visiting professor at Harvard University, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. He is a frequent commentator on politics for National Public Radio.

Before joining The Post in 1990 as a political reporter, Dionne spent 14 years at The New York Times, where he covered politics and reported from Albany, Washington, Paris, Rome and Beirut. His coverage of the Vatican was described by the Los Angeles Times as the best in two decades. In 2014-2015, Dionne was the vice president of the American Political Science Association. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33946]

More recently known for her Black Panther and Wakanda Forever Marvel Comics, Nnedi Okorafor is an international award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism for both children and adults. Born in the United States to two Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. In a profile of Nnedi’s work titled, “Weapons of Mass Creation,” The New York Times called Nnedi’s imagination “stunning.” Game of Thrones author, George R.R. Martin and HBO are currently developing a show based on her World Fantasy Award Winning novel, Who Fears Death. Ta-Nehisi Coates has passed the torch on writing the Black Panther comics to Nnedi, and the women warriors from the mega-hit movie were such fan favorites that Marvel has tasked Nnedi to create a new spinoff comic, Wakanda Forever. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33945]

In The Lion Seeker and The Mandela Plot, two powerful novels full of raw, vividly-drawn characters, Kenneth Bonert explored the unique and fascinating story of the Jews of South Africa. In this talk he explains why he became a novelist and the inspiration that he drew from growing up in Johannesburg. He talks about the history of his family and of the Jewish community in South Africa and reflect on his literary goals such as capturing the authentic voices of his characters and examining their moral and political struggles. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34564]

Author, Tova Mirvis reads from her memoir, The Book of Separation, which describes a woman who leaves her Orthodox Jewish faith and her marriage and sets out to navigate the terrifying, liberating terrain of a newly mapless world. She is the author of three novels and her essays have appeared in various anthologies and newspapers. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34065]

Author, Tova Mirvis reads from her memoir, The Book of Separation, which describes a woman who leaves her Orthodox Jewish faith and her marriage and sets out to navigate the terrifying, liberating terrain of a newly mapless world. She is the author of three novels and her essays have appeared in various anthologies and newspapers. Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Show ID: 34065]

San Diego-raised novelist and UC San Diego alumnus, Luis Alberto Urrea ‘77 is the featured speaker at the UC San Diego Library annual gala. Urrea, a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist, has written about the border and has knitted together stories in a way that makes them familiar and impactful for everyone. Series: "Writers" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33668]

Abigail Pogrebin is the author of the recently published book, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. Hear how she spent 12 months researching and observing every holiday in the Jewish calendar. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33750]