Yiddish Book Center Grant Provides Unique Series of Discussions, Speakers
The Library received a generous grant from the Yiddish Book Center for a unique series of discussion groups available to our library patrons.
The events are 7-9 p.m. in the Library Center auditorium.
"Coming to America" helps readers think about immigrants' experiences encountering America. Featuring Yiddish literature in translation, these discussions with various community leaders explores questions of identity, assimilation and generational change.
- Tuesday, March 29: "Motl the Cantor's Son" by Sholem Aleichem; led by Rich Schur, Drury University Professor of English.
- Tuesday, April 26: "A Jewish Refugee in New York" by Kadya Molodovsky; led by Rabbi Barbara Block.
- Monday, May 16: "American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures" edited by America Ferrera with E. Cayce Dumont; led by Rebekah L. Thomas, director of the International Institute of Southwest Missouri.
- Tuesday, May 24: "Enemies, A Love Story" by Isaac Bashevis Singer; led by Nora Cox, Missouri State University Communication Department senior instructor.
"Coming to America" Jewish Springfield
Wednesday, April 20, 7-9 p.m. in the Library Center auditorium. Mara Cohen Ioannides is a professor of English at Missouri State University; co-director of "Telling Traditions," an oral history and documentary of Jewish women in the Ozarks; and author of several books about Judaism. She will expound on the written histories of Springfield to include stories of the Jewish community that have long been overlooked. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
"Coming to America" Reading Groups for Public Libraries is made possible by a gift from Sharon Karmazin. The Yiddish Book Center’s “Coming to America” Reading Groups for Public Libraries is a program in which librarians arrange reading groups to discuss three books of Yiddish literature in translation, and one book related to an immigrant community served by their library.
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