Kansas City Public Library to Host Jewish Literature Series

The Kansas City Public Library will host the first of five monthly discussions in a series titled “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature – Identity and Imagination” at the Waldo Branch, 201 E. 75th St., on Thursday, August 21. Designed to explore Jewish literature and culture through scholar-led discussions of contemporary and classic books, the “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature” program will explore the theme of “Demons, Golems, and Dybbuks: Monsters of the Jewish Imagination” over the course of five sessions scheduled for the third Thursday of every month.

Each 60-90 minute session begins at 7 p.m. and will be led by Dr. Ben Furnish, author of Nostalgia in Jewish-American Theatre and Film, 1979-2004. Furnish is also managing editor of BkMk Press and a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. All sessions will be limited to 30 attendees. To register for one or more of these sessions, please go to www.kclibrary.org/jlit [1] or call 816.701.3407.

The Kansas City Public Library is one of 83 libraries across the country that received competitively-awarded grants to host “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature” a program series developed by Nextbook and the American Library Association (ALA). The majority of the funding will be used to provide program participants with free paperback copies of the five books that will be discussed in the series – Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, and Angels in America by Tony Kushner.

The first program in the five-part series, scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 2008, will explore Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Registrants for this first program in the series, Satan in Goray, will be able to pick up their free paperback copy of Satan in Goray after July 15, 2008, at the Waldo Branch, 201 E. 75th St.