Memoir as History: From Germany to Iran
Small
moments are key to Mimi Schwartz’s latest memoir, Good Neighbors, Bad
Times, Echoes of My Father’s German Village (March 2008). A small story of
the rescue of a Torah by Christians on Kristallnacht led to her twelve-year quest
on three continents to learn how good neighbors on the sidelines of history negotiated
decency before, during and after Nazi times. Schwartz is the author of a previous
memoir, Thoughts from a Queen-sized Bed, and 3 books on writing, including
Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction. Her short work
has appeared in The Missouri Review, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Calyx,
The New York Times, Tikkun, Jewish Week, The Writer’s Chronicle, and elsewhere.
Her essays have been widely anthologized and six have been Notables in Best
American Essays. She is Professor Emerita of the Writing Program of Richard
Stockton College of New Jersey. www.mimischwartz.net
Nahid
Rachlin’s memoir, Persian Girl, was selected as one of the best four
books of 2006 by Christopher Merrill, the Director of the Iowa International Writing
Program. She is the author of four novels, including Jumping Over Fire
and Foreigner. She has a collection of short stories, Veils, and
her stories and essays have appeared in over 50 publications including The
Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Redbook, and Shenandoah.
Born in Iran, Rachlin came to the United States to attend college and stayed.
While a student she held a Doubleday-Columbia fellowship and a Wallace Stegner
Fellowship (Stanford), and has since received numerous grants and awards. Currently
she teaches at the New School University and the Unterberg Poetry Center at the
92nd Street Y, and she is an associate fellow at Yale. www.nahidrachlin.com
All readings include a question & answer period and a reception with books by the author(s) for sale.
Suggested
Donation: $5 ($3 for HVWC members and those under age 18)
Programs and events at The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center are made possible, in part, by grants from the Bydale Foundation, the David G. Taft Foundation, and the Orchard Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the Basic Program Support Grant of the Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government.