Robert Pinsky
The Life of David
September 20 2005, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
"For the hero to be celebrated requires the artist who imagines the celebration: David the warrior-artist is both." So writes former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky in his new book on King David. Drawing on the biblical chronicle of David as well as on later commentaries, Pinsky crafts both a detailed biography and an ecstatic song to David—warrior, outlaw, poet, king, slayer of Goliath, lover of Bathsheba, successor to Saul, and founder of Jerusalem. Robert Pinsky is the author of six books of poetry and the translation
The Inferno of Dante.
Sherwin Nuland with Leon Wieseltier
Maimonides: A Guide for the Perplexed
November 8 2005, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
1529 16th Street NW
"From Moses to Moses there were none like Moses," reads the tombstone of Moses Maimonides. In his new biography, Sherwin Nuland gives us a lively and absorbing account of the twelfth-century physician, rabbi, and philosopher. He portrays his early years in Muslim Spain, his midnight escape from Fez to Palestine, his role as the king's physician in Egypt, and the creation of his great work,
The Guide for the Perplexed. Nuland received the National Book Award for
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter. He is joined by Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of
The New Republic. This event is cosponsored by the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival.
Susan Stamberg with Max Apple, Daniel Mark Epstein & Simone Zelitch
Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season
December 20 2005, 7:30 PM
Carnegie Institution
Join NPR's Susan Stamberg for an evening of Hanukkah stories that will delight the entire family! A grandmother shakes up the Hanukkah party at the Coney Island Sephardic Home with some tambourine-whooping belly dancing. A young rabbi must decide whether to give in to a four-year-old animal rights activist and retract the story of the Maccabees spearing an elephant. For fifteen years, NPR has celebrated Hanukkah with readings of original stories by distinguished American writers. Contributors Max Apple, Daniel Mark Epstein, and Simone Zelitch will also read from their stories, which have been collected in a new anthology,
Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season.
Classic Jews: A Staged Reading
Adapted and Directed by Laura Ferri
January 10 2006, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
Before Philip Roth or Saul Bellow picked up a pen, the most famous (and notorious) Jewish characters in the English tradition were created by non-Jews. In imagining these heroes, heroines, and villains, British and American authors pondered the place of Jews in society, and bolstered many of the stereotypes, positive and negative, that later writers would revisit, reinvent, and react against. Laura Ferri directs an evening of readings from Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, and others. Ferri has been a company member of Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle for twelve years, where she has adapted and directed numerous literary productions.
Aleksandar Hemon & Jonathan Lethem
A New Life: Malamud Today
February 21 2006, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
Bernard Malamud was one of the most popular and acclaimed novelists of his time, but as literary fashions changed, his books were increasingly neglected. Now, a new generation of readers and writers is rediscovering his work. Aleksandar Hemon and Jonathan Lethem read from Malamud's novels and stories and talk about his importance today. Hemon is the author of
Nowhere Man and
The Question of Bruno; he wrote the introduction to the new edition of Malamud's novel
The Tenants. Lethem is the author of numerous books, including
The Fortress of Solitude and
Motherless Brooklyn; he wrote the introduction to the new edition of Malamud's novel
A New Life.
An Evening with Cynthia Ozick
May 9 2006, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
"If we blow into the narrow end of the shofar, we will be heard far," said Cynthia Ozick in 1970. "But if we choose to be mankind rather than Jewish and blow into the wider part, we will not be heard at all." Through books like
The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories, The Shawl, and
The Puttermesser Papers, Ozick has become one of the most recognized Jewish American authors. Her most recent novel,
Heir to the Glimmering World, is the Depression-era story of Rose Meadows, an 18-year-old orphan, who finds herself caught up in the domestic and intellectual dramas of the Mitwissers, a family of German Jewish refugees.
Ariel Dorfman
Why for Years I did not seem to care if I was a Jew and Whether I was Wrong
June 6 2006, 7:30 PM
Washington DCJCC
Ariel Dorfman was almost killed in the coup that toppled the Chilean government in 1973. Forced into exile, he spent the next 20 years protesting against the government of General Pinochet, while at the same time making a reputation for himself as a literary writer. He has published novels, essays, and plays, including
Death and the Maiden, which was turned into a film by Roman Polanski. Jewish characters and themes, however, are rarely central to his stories and plays. Dorfman talks about his work and why, despite appearances, he may be a Jewish writer after all. Theatre J will present Dorfman's
Picasso's Closet from June 21 to July 23, 2006 (visit www.dcjcc.org for more information).