Fall Events and Happenings
FALL
OCTOBER IS NATIONAL BOOK MONTH
I thought I would commemorate it by highlighting an exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA where they featured Yiddish women writers—poets, novelists, journalists—in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who were mostly ignored because of their gender.
There were many women writers of Yiddish in that time period, who were not recognized in their lifetimes; most touching to me and symbolic of many of these women was Esther Singer Kreitman, the elder sister of the Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer and Israel Joshua Singer both renowned writers.
Esther was neglected by her parents, discounted by her brothers and even denied a formal education, because she was a girl. Esther famously said in her story “The New World”
“ …because I was a girl, everybody in the house, even Mama, was disappointed…I am barely a half hour old, but except for a slap from some woman as I came into the world, nobody looks at me…”
Esther was brilliant and persisted in writing later in her life. Her literary works were finally published (with no help or encouragement from her famous brothers) and were posthumously translated and published into multiple languages. She is said to be the inspiration for the story “Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, which was made into a movie by Barbra Streisand. But her life story was bleaker than Yentl’s and full of bitterness and loss. Her son, published a biography of her: The Forgotten Singer: The Exiled Sister of I.J and Isaac Bashevis Singer, A Memoir by Maurice Carr.
Wandering through the exhibit and reading about Esther, and other early women poets and novelists, I realize my own good fortune to have been born in the United States a generation or two after them. Looking at Esther’s picture below, I wonder what she was thinking..
Esther Singer Kreitman
THE PLASTIC STORE at MassMOCA
An Exhibit having nothing to do with books, but definitely instructive in all our lives.
MassMOCA is a Museum in North Adams, MA whose shows never cease to titillate my senses and stir my brain. This summer it was “The Plastic Store.” The exhibit showcases a supermarket with everything made from plastic bags. As patrons we wander through all the sections—just like in a real supermarket—marveling at the ingenuity of the artist, and then we are treated to a puppet show telling a sad, funny and tenderly human story of the foreverness of single use plastic goods and how we will leave our plastic trash for generations to come.
It made me think hard about how much plastic we use every day…from toilet seats to toothbrushes, from food containers to lotion dispensers. Plastic fills our lives and never disappears. My consciousness is raised, but I don’t know what to do with my new found knowledge. It is hard to avoid using plastic in our everyday life.
Have you Seen the Elephants?
An outdoor exhibition
A hundred of these magnificent life-size duplicates of living animals are parading in The Meatpacking District down Ninth Avenue between Gansevoort and 15th streets.
The Great Elephant Migration
The elephants are constructed of steel frames, covered with the invasive grasses called Lantana Camera that are crowding out the food sources the elephants need to survive. They are traveling all across America ending their tour next year in Los Angeles, teaching us about our changing climate and its impact on humans and animals, and raising money to help save the environment where these elephants live.
OF COURSE I AM DOING BOOK EVENTS
SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNED DOING BOOK EVENTS
When I was in San Francisco recently for a family visit I did a Book Event at the Frank Residences. Justine Reiss, who narrated both my books was with me and did a few readings, always a treat for the audience.
Street Corner Dreams, as many of you know, has to do with the rise of organized crime during the early 20th century. I always ask if anyone in the audience has a family member during that time who was involved in neighborhood crime because learning about a cousin of my mother’s who was a member of Murder Inc. inspired me to develop and write Street Corner Dreams.
Not surprising to me, there is always someone who raises a hand and tells their story. Sometimes a participant comes up to me afterwards to whisper about their nefarious relative, feeling they need to keep this shame a secret, which is another popular topic.
Book Clubs love to talk about family secrets. It seems every family has them. In the old days, secrets were revealed in whispers and hints, but now, more and more, the discovery comes with information from 23 & Me or Ancestry.com. Dani Shapiro’s memoir, Inheritance, is a well known example.
But no matter how the secret is revealed—accidentally, on purpose, or through innocent family research—it is always a shock, sometimes life changing, and often it offers an explanation for information that never made sense before.
One other thing I have learned at book clubs: if readers like the characters in the books, and connect with them, they always want to know what happened next—after the writer has written “The End.” I guess that is why sequels are so popular.
If you would like to talk about books, family secrets, criminal relatives or great characters, call me, invite me to your book club or your organization. I’d love to join you.
And if you enjoy reading this very occasional newsletter, forward it to a friend and ask them to sign up to receive it.
We are booking events and book clubs for the fall, winter, spring and summer.