Jewish Life in Harbin, China: A Conversation with Jean Hoffmann Lewanda by Susan Blumberg-Kason

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 ]

Other news stories related to: "Jewish Life in Harbin, China: A Conversation with Jean Hoffmann Lewanda by Susan Blumberg-Kason"


Richard Charkin: ‘Thank Goodness for the Rule-Breakers’

'Maybe there are lessons to be learned from rule-breaking,' writes Richard Charkin, with a new memoir as his case in point. The post Richard Charkin: ‘Thank Goodness for the Rule-Breakers’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-01-04 13:04:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Majority of borrowed books across Ontario libraries in 2020 weren't published this year

In a year dominated by a global pandemic and American politics, some might find it fitting that the library book most likely to be checked out across Ontario was a hopeful memoir written by the former first lady of the United States. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2020-12-31 09:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Behind the Scenes: Working at Barnes & Noble in Illinois

If you've ever stopped browsing your B&N to wonder about life as a bookseller, here's a firsthand account of working at a Barnes & Noble. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-23 11:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: December 23, 2020

Want to feel hungry? Read Bryan Washington on his year in takeout orders. | The New Yorker “In the end, Chang’s trauma, and the trauma he inflicted on other people, becomes part of his public persona, while we simply carry ours.” Hannah Selinger on what—and who—David Chang’s memoir leaves out. |... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-23 11:30:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Audiobooks to Get You Through the Most Distracted of Times

New fiction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barack Obama’s accent game, a Wilco frontman’s memoir and romance by Vonnegut. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-12-22 23:58:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Richard Osman becomes first debut author to land Christmas No 1

The Thursday Murder Club sees off titles by Barack Obama and David Walliams in chaotic week for Britain’s book tradeRichard Osman’s cosy mystery about a group of elderly sleuths, The Thursday Murder Club, has become the first debut novel ever to become the Christmas No 1, selling a remarkable... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-22 15:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Greystone Books to publish hostage memoir from Édith Blais

Greystone Books will publish Édith Blais’ memoir of being kidnapped and held hostage for 450 days in Burkina Faso at the hands of a militant group.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-22 06:56:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land.

Continuing on the Barack Obama’s Favorite Media end-of-year march, the former President has released a 20-song playlist to accompany his memoir A Promised Land, composed of songs that recall memories of his time on the campaign trail and in the White House. There’s some Beyonce, some John... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-21 17:24:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Read Harder: A Food Memoir By an Author of Color

In this Read Harder Challenge post, we're recommending books for the task asking you to read a a food memoir by an author of color. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-21 11:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


15 Of The Best Historical Fiction Series

Find the best historical fiction series that both engages and entertains, with lively and diverse characters. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-18 11:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Dialogue acquires Roche's 'nuanced and illuminating' memoir

Dialogue Books has acquired A Working-Class Family Ages Badly: A Memoir of Love and Life Between Two Pandemics by Juno Roche. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 17:09:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘They’ve stolen our history’: Why one designer has been fighting for inclusion for 50 years

Acclaimed designer and thought leader Cheryl D. Miller shares her decades-long quest for design justice. Cheryl D. Miller is an acclaimed New York communications designer, artist, and theologian. She is the author of the memoir Black Coral: A Daughter’s Apology to Her Asian Island Mother and... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-12-17 08:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


8 Intergenerational Family Sagas to Dig into This Winter

These eight brilliant novels of historical fiction featuring intergenerational family sagas tell sweeping and epic tales, including Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, translated by Tina A. Kover. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-12-16 11:39:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Obama memoir ‘A Promised Land’ delivers earnest self-reflection

The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Obama memoir ‘A Promised Land’ delivers earnest self-reflection

The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Obama memoir ‘A Promised Land’ delivers earnest self-reflection

The 44th president of the United States does more than defend his legacy; he shares the values that have animated his life and political career. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-15 00:02:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2020, by Michelle Johnson

Lit Lists Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved from bookstores to Zoom. Writers and... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-12-14 20:55:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


7 Books That Prove You’re Not the Only Weirdo

Apologies, but I have to begin my introduction to this list of books by briefly mentioning my own book; shout your aggrievance about this to the heavens if you must. Writing my book, which is a hybrid of memoir and reporting about my dog, was difficult for me at times, because I’m not used to... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-12-11 12:00:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of December 14, 2020

Don Winslow sells a trilogy to William Morrow for seven figures, Dey Street buys a memoir from Moon Unit Zappa, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Melania Trump’s post-White House book might not be a memoir after all, which is fine.

For a while, Melania Trump has teased that she might write a book after the Trump family exits the White House. I, like many, had mixed feelings. On one hand, it’d be interesting to see the Trump administration from the point of the view of the famously sullen First Lady; but on the other hand,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-10 18:18:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this