book talk
New from Yiddish Voices: Mississippi and Hasidic Warsaw – In-person Program and Live on Zoom
Join us for the launch of the latest two translations in the Yiddish Voices series, a partnership between YIVO and Bloomsbury. The first, Mississippi: A Yiddish Play about the Scottsboro Affair, is a fictionalized retelling of the Scottsboro Affair, which began with the wrongful arrest of nine African American youths in Alabama in 1931. The play demonstrates how important it was to Yiddish writers of the 1920s and 1930s to grapple with the persecution of Black people in America.
The second, Hasidic Warsaw: Reb Zalmen and the Aleksander Shtibl, is an intimate portrait of the lives of those who went inside the Aleksander Hasidim's shtibl (prayer house) in the early 20th century to pray, eat, study, and argue. The book provides rich material for the ethnography of Polish Hasidism in the early 20th century.
The event will feature a discussion exploring both of these newly published translations. The program will also include a performance by Marques Hollie of a song from Mississippi and a nigun from the Aleksander Hasidim. Book signing and reception will follow.
This program is supported by the family of Harriet Yassky.
Buy Mississippi: A Yiddish Play about the Scottsboro Affair.
Buy Hasidic Warsaw: Reb Zalmen and the Aleksander Shtibl.
Ticket Info: Free; registration is required
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book talk