Jewish Life in Harbin, China: A Conversation with Jean Hoffmann Lewanda by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Tue, 01/07/2025 - 07:08 Shalama and Paul, Shanghai, 1950. Photo courtesy of Jean Hoffmann LewandaI met the author Jean Hoffmann Lewanda for lunch this past November in New Jersey, not too far from her home in suburban Philadelphia. Jean is the author of a new book, Shalama: My 96 Seasons in China (Earnshaw, 2024), the story of her mother’s childhood in Harbin, China, and young adult years in Shanghai. Jean’s first book, Witness to History: From Vienna to Shanghai: A Memoir of Escape, Survival and Resilience, is an edited edition of her father’s memoir tracing his escape from Nazi-controlled Vienna to the safe shores of Shanghai in the late 1930s. Jean and I originally met online thanks to mutual friends who are historians and the authority on everything Old Shanghai. When we met in person in November, we spoke for hours about publishing Jewish Chinese stories. We expanded this conversation over email. Susan Blumberg-Kason: Thank you, Jean, for continuing our lovely conversation back in November. I don’t remember coming across other authors who have personal connections to both the old Shanghai and Harbin Jewish communities, each of which numbered in the thousands. Your mother was the daughter of Russian Jewish refugees, and your father was an Austrian Jewish refugee. Was it unusual for people in these... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2025-01-07 13:08:24 UTC ]
“I was still an English Learner, for crying out loud; how could I ever imagine working in the movie industry?” How rummaging through Oliver Stone’s home office allowed a young Rafael Agustín to dream big. | Lit Hub Memoir If “empathy towards other species and toward nature is the only way out of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-15 10:30:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Insiders say outgoing prime minister unlikely to write about personal life but book deal possible this autumnBoris Johnson could be paid more than £1m for his memoir, according to publishing insiders. But anyone expecting a kiss-and-tell may be disappointed, as industry professionals have said... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-15 10:12:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
"Writing my memoir essentially gave me the confidence that I could write fiction." The post Surrounded by Choice: The Millions Interviews Sopan Deb appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-07-15 10:00:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins wins a British crime thriller debut, Gallery takes on a memoir by a former Scientologist, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, lead scientist for NASA’s Psyche mission, describes challenges and successes in “A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-07-14 20:06:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The 'Dirty Dancing' star discusses the upcoming sequel, her memoir and the Supreme Court's 'fundamentally wrong' abortion ruling. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-14 14:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When CJ Hauser published “The Crane Wife” in The Paris Review, an essay about repressing her needs in a relationship, calling off a wedding, and going to study whooping cranes on the Gulf Coast, it quickly became a viral hit. Three years later, her 17-piece memoir in essays of the same name... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-14 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Northwest, where I live and where my novel is set, is a big place and it is a lot of things. It is the damp, mossy woods of the coast, the high desert, and the snowy, jagged mountain ranges that divide the two. It is home to weird and real creatures like giant octopuses, […] The post 7... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
How Josephine Baker transformed from dancer to spy. | Lit Hub History “Although they’d been dead for 30 years, I was writing their story in a taut, blow-by-blow replay as the noose of Jones’s madness pulled tighter and tighter.” Julia Scheeres on the harrowing experience of writing about the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-13 10:30:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Goodreads has announced its list of the top 36 most popular historical fiction books of 2022 (so far), according to users' interest. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-11 14:45:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Random House buys a memoir about alcoholism and family, and Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor sells a historical trilogy to Europa. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Rafael Agustin dishes about "Illegally Yours," his candid new memoir about a childhood without documents, and the TV pilot that never made it. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-07-07 13:00:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“I grew up working class and money was a factor in everything we did,” says the poet and novelist, whose new book is the memoir “Crying in the Bathroom.” “That’s why I always write about the financial realities of my characters.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-07 09:00:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
"The Pallbearers Club" is presented as a found memoir manuscript, complicated by the contradictory annotation of an enigmatic woman. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-04 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When it comes to writing historical fiction, one author finds that it’s the very human details that resonate with the reader. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2022-07-01 15:38:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new historical fiction series for young readers highlights “the importance of standing up for what you know is right.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-01 04:20:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Dive into a tender coming-of-age memoir by Isaac Fitzgerald, a biography of Vladimir V. Putin and novels from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Bolu Babalola and Daniel Nieh. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-30 09:00:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this
These queer short story collections span a wide range of genres form contemporary and historical fiction to sci-fi and fabulism. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-28 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Solitary confinement is a form of torture that the prison system makes commonplace. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-06-26 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Arceneaux, an astronaut on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 last September, describes how having cancer as a child changed her faith and the rest of her life in ‘Wild Ride: A Memoir of IV Drips and Rocket Ships’ (Convergent, Sept. 6). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this