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 ]
These new books include a fantastical dark academia set on a secret campus, the memoir of an Indigenous climate activist, a drag queen romance, and more. Which ones are you adding to your TBR? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Eric Roberts' memoir isn't a Hollywood reclamation job designed to kick-start a once-buzzy career. Roberts knows all too well that his erratic behavior damaged his relationships with friends and family, including his sister Julia Roberts. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-09-17 10:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers on consent, power, and age gaps in queer relationships. | Lit Hub Memoir Tracking the ongoing fight against creeping fascism in American schools: “The ultimate goal is to justify a takeover of the institutions, transforming them into weapons in the war against the very... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-16 10:30:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
National Book Award longlist week, historical fiction and the literary canon, THE POWER BROKER at 50, and more in this week's biggest book news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-14 16:03:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In his memoir “Frighten the Horses,” Oliver Radclyffe recalls his gradual awakening to the sexuality and gender identity he spent 40 years denying. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-14 09:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
WARNING: This article contains details of abuse. In his new memoir Just Say Yes, Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald charts his path from an unhappy and sometimes abusive home to Canada's foremost explainer of all things scientific. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-09-13 14:31:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Tracy O’Neill’s Woman of Interest is a quest memoir: a voyage there and back, out and in. The book recounts the author’s search for her birth mother during the frightening heights of covid, “a pandemic that had miniaturized life.” Enlisting the help of a PI named Joe, a former CIA operative,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-09-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In the years since this memoir was first published, readers have asked me a number of questions: What does your family think of the book? How did you start writing a memoir in essays? Is the book available in Spanish? The question that took me by surprise, though, came in 2020 on the eve of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-13 08:55:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Historical fiction is dominant (?), the Non-Fiction Finalists for the National Book Award, and Salem's Lot is set to scare. All in today's book news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-12 21:35:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With a memoir, a Broadway turn in 'Moulin Rouge!,' a planned tour and new music, Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque is back in control of her career. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-09-12 10:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Questlove, best known as one of the more famous drummers to ever live and co-founder of The Roots, released a memoir this month called Hip-Hop is History. Co-written with his regular collaborator, Ben Greenman, this personal narrative builds on a growing canon of hip-hop lit. Fans will be... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-11 17:25:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A medieval heist, a Halifax murder, a Dutch wartime winter and a daring 1939 journey to Shanghai provide egress for any taste. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-11 12:42:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Best Historical Fiction of the Century, New YA out this week, Neurodivergent romance novels, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-09 16:08:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“I’ve never felt the presence of my own death so close to me,” writes Nahil Mohana while chronicling the toll of living with endless displacement and fear in Gaza. | Lit Hub Memoir Shannon Bowring asks, “How do you create a written world that honors the spirit of the place that inspired it while... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-05 10:30:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Get into the life of a Civil Rights icon when she's still a girl, learn about Nigerian women protesting, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-09-04 15:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Giving the Monash Oration in Sydney, Kim Williams says truth and democracy suffers every time a job in journalism is cut Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe chair of the ABC has quoted the memoir of US vice-presidential candidate JD Vance while discussing the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-04 11:02:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Supreme Court justice’s memoir is deeply personal and full of hope, and highlights a fairy-tale marriage to her college boyfriend. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-09-03 09:04:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
His memoir Mamaskatch won the Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction in 2018 Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-08-30 22:42:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
One Signal acquires ‘Science’ journalist Charles Piller’s book on the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s, former Lakers star James Worthy sells a memoir to Avid Reader Press, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Books that break the fourth wall, a major lawsuit goes after book banes, historical fiction set in Hawaii and more today on Book Riot. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-08-29 16:05:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this