Isaac Bashevis Singer: Before Everything Else a Writer

With unprecedented access to I.B. Singer’s original Yiddish works newly available via the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library,  authors and scholars reflect on the lasting impact of the Nobel Prize-winning writer.

FEATURING:

  • Rivka Galchen
  • Rebecca Goldstein
  • Anita Norich
  • Eleanor Reissa
  • Ilan Stavans
  • David Stromberg

“I have a Yiddish typewriter which is very capricious and highly critical,” Isaac Bashevis Singer said. “If this typewriter doesn’t like a story, it refuses to work.” This fall, a vast collection of works by the Nobel Prize–winning writer in his native tongue will become freely available online for the first time through the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library.

This is a major milestone for readers and scholars alike as the Yiddish originals were never widely distributed and often differ significantly from their more familiar English versions, which Singer reworked for an American audience. The availability of these works was made possible by permission of the Singer Estate.

In honor of the great author’s body of work, the evening will include a reading of one of his stories by Yiddish actress Eleanor Reissa; a conversation with prominent writers and scholars who will discuss the question, “Isaac Bashevis Singer: Time for a Reappraisal?”; and the screening of a seldom seen short film, Isaac Singer’s Nightmare and Mrs. Pupko’s Beard, directed by renowned photographer Bruce Davidson and starring Singer himself.

Co-presented by the Yiddish Book Center 











When: Wed., Oct. 10, 2018 at 6:30 pm
Where: Onassis Cultural Center
645 Fifth Ave.
212-486-4448
Price: Free
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With unprecedented access to I.B. Singer’s original Yiddish works newly available via the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library,  authors and scholars reflect on the lasting impact of the Nobel Prize-winning writer.

FEATURING:

  • Rivka Galchen
  • Rebecca Goldstein
  • Anita Norich
  • Eleanor Reissa
  • Ilan Stavans
  • David Stromberg

“I have a Yiddish typewriter which is very capricious and highly critical,” Isaac Bashevis Singer said. “If this typewriter doesn’t like a story, it refuses to work.” This fall, a vast collection of works by the Nobel Prize–winning writer in his native tongue will become freely available online for the first time through the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library.

This is a major milestone for readers and scholars alike as the Yiddish originals were never widely distributed and often differ significantly from their more familiar English versions, which Singer reworked for an American audience. The availability of these works was made possible by permission of the Singer Estate.

In honor of the great author’s body of work, the evening will include a reading of one of his stories by Yiddish actress Eleanor Reissa; a conversation with prominent writers and scholars who will discuss the question, “Isaac Bashevis Singer: Time for a Reappraisal?”; and the screening of a seldom seen short film, Isaac Singer’s Nightmare and Mrs. Pupko’s Beard, directed by renowned photographer Bruce Davidson and starring Singer himself.

Co-presented by the Yiddish Book Center 

Buy tickets/get more info now