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 ]
Hearing a memoir in the author’s voice can make a big difference, and not just when the author is Viola Davis. Plus: A creepy novel gets creepier in audio. Continue reading at The New York Times
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The first chapter of Daniella Mestyanek Young’s memoir Uncultured opens with a screech: It is 1993 and Mestyanek Young—then 5 years old—is inside a commune in Brazil, standing at the back of a line of children waiting to be paddled. As she explains, it’s a normal day in the Children of God, the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
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Hilary Duff, who dated Aaron Carter in the early 2000s, accused his memoir publisher of 'recklessly pushing a book out to capitalize on this tragedy.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
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In his memoir “A Heart That Works,” the comedian and actor grapples with the pain of losing a child, and how to keep living. Continue reading at The New York Times
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“Our teeth tell stories about us, about the way that we have lived, about where we come from, about our habits, our health, and status.” Angelique Stevens muses on dentistry, poverty, and inequality. | Lit Hub Memoir In this week’s Life Advice for Book Lovers, Dorothea recommends books for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
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Greenlight welcomes poet and author Emma Bolden for a virtual evening celebrating her new book, The Tiger and the Cage. This exquisitely wrought debut memoir recounts Bolden’s lifelong struggle with chronic pain and endometriosis, while speaking more broadly to anyone who has been told “it’s all... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
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