F147B.
"If I Speak for the Dead": Jewish Poems of Ancestry
Friday, March 25, 2022
10:35 am to 11:50 am
A growing body of contemporary Jewish poetry imagines its way into the worlds of our recent ancestors, whether literal, literary, or in spirit. What are the challenges of writing to investigate or recover these lineages through layers of diaspora and receded languages? What are the possibilities? Each poet will read their own poems and speak to their writing process and related craft considerations.
Participants
Dan Alter’s poems and reviews have been published in journals including Field, Fourteen Hills, PANK, and ZYZZYVA; his first collection My Little Book of Exiles is forthcoming. He works as an IBEW electrician.
Daniel Khalastchi is an Iraqi Jewish American. He is the author of three books, including American Parables, winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a former fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and a founding editor of Rescue Press.
Jennifer Kronovet is the author of two books of poetry, The Wug Test, which was selected for the National Poetry Series, and Awayward. She cotranslated Empty Chairs, poems by Chinese writer Liu Xia, and The Acrobat, poems by Yiddish writer Celia Dropkin. She is the editor of Circumference Books.
Elvira Basevich
Gail Newman, child of Holocaust survivors, was born after WW II in a displaced persons camp. Her new collection, Blood Memory, chosen by Marge Piercy for The Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize, was published in 2020. The book won the NCPA Gold Award for Poetry. Gail teaches genocide poetry for educators and students.
