SEYMOUR — Seymour Public Library is excited to participate in The Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” Reading Groups for Public Libraries, a reading and discussion program to engage teens and adults in thinking about experiences of displacement, migration, and diaspora. In this program, librarians organize reading groups to discuss three books of Yiddish literature in translation, and one book related to the experience of a community served by their library.
The Yiddish Book Center, located in Amherst, MA since 1997, prioritizes the celebration of Yiddish Language and Culture. For this reading group, a Seymour Public Library staff member attended the three-day workshop hosted by the Yiddish Book Center and made possible by a gift from Sharon Karmazin.
The book discussions will be held in the Lower Level of the Seymour Public Library in February and March. Selections, of roughly 40 – 50 pages, from each of the books will be chosen for discussion. For those that are interested, accompanying video will be available pertaining either to the book, the author, or the book’s translator. Books are available to borrow at the circulation desk of the Seymour Public Library with a valid library card. If you do not have a library card and would like to attend any of the discussions, please contact Suzanne Garvey, Library Director at sgarvey@biblio.org or call 203 – 888-3903 ex. 5.
February’s selected books and discussion dates are listed below. Information about March’s programs will be released at a later date.
Tuesday, February 6, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.- On the Landing by Yenta Mash.
Born in 1922, Yenta Mash and her parents were exiled to a Siberian Labor Camp in 1941. Escaping in 1948, Yenta Mash settled in Moldova for some time before immigrating to Israel in 1977 where she began to publish. Discussion will focus on these selected stories: “Bridegroom Tree”, “The Payback”, “Resting Place”, and “A Seder in the Taiga “.
Wednesday, February 21, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. -In the Land of the Postscript by Chava Rosenfarb
Chava Rosenfarb was born in Lodz, Poland in 1923. A survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, Rosenfarb immigrated with her husband in 1950 to Canada where she published works in Yiddish. Chava Rosenfarb is respected as one of the most important Yiddish novelists of the post-War period. The stories that will be discussed, “Greenhorn”, and “April 19th” are translated from Yiddish into English by her daughter.
This series is made possible due to support from the Yiddish Book Center. The Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” Reading Groups for Public Libraries is made possible by a gift from Sharon Karmazin.
Seymour Public Library is located at 46 Church ST, Seymour, CT 06483. To register for this free discussion series or for more information about the series including the March discussion books, please email sgarvey@biblio.org or call 203 – 888-3903 ex. 5.
