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Israel Program: Ruby Namdar
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Living in English, Writing in Hebrew: A Conversation with Israeli-American Author Ruby Namdar
Eighteen years ago, Israeli author Ruby Namdar arrived in New York, not knowing that he had just taken the first step of an incredible literary, cultural and personal journey. Namdar’s novel The Ruined House, winner of the 2014 Sapir Prize, Israel’s most prestigious literary award, was his artistic response to that journey. In this talk Ruby Namdar will discuss what it means today be an “Israeli author,” and how his work re-defines what this term. He will also address his new-found relationship to the great Jewish-American authors of the previous generation, and the rewards – as well as the setbacks – of living in one language while writing in another.
Join us for an extraordinary author event on Sunday, October 27th at 10:00 AM. Israel Programming at GJC, along with Women of GJC, Men’s Club, HAZAK, and People of the Book, is pleased to present Ruby Namdar. The program is $18/person. REGISTER ONLINE HERE! If you would like a sponsorship for the program, please email Kate Lawn at program@germantownjewishcentre.org.
“An absolute masterpiece, one of the most monumental works written in Hebrew in the last century.”— Tablet Magazine
Ruby Namdar was born and raised in Jerusalem to a family of Iranian-Jewish heritage. His first book, Haviv (2000) won The Ministry of Culture’s Award for Best First Publication. His novel The Ruined House has won the Sapir Prize—Israel’s most prestigious literary award. In The Ruined House, an elegant NYU professor at the peak of his powers is reduced to a quivering puddle by a violent, unsought, yearlong spiritual awakening. Jumping between New York of 2000 and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the novel presents a Jewish American tale, merging reality with myth, brutality with fragility. The New York Times called the novel: “strange and exhilarating… a masterpiece of modern religious literature”.
GJC extends thanks and gratitude to the Stern /Gafni Endowment for Israel Engagement for their generous support, and to the Wolfe Family Foundation for their support in all GJC programming. This program is funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Israel Engagement Grant Program.