Prizewinning novelist Dara Horn finally got fed up with being asked to write about dead Jews in response to the recent wave of fatal antisemitic attacks across the world.
Why so much reverence for past Jewish misery and so little respect for Jewish lives in the present?
She tackles that question in an essay collection that quickly became a New York Times Notable Book and a Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book, People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present. Writing about the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz; the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China; Shakespeare’s Shylock; and her own anger at having to discuss swastikas drawn on desks in her children’s schools, she makes the radical argument that public piety about dead Jews is, in fact, a profound affront to human dignity.
She will be in conversation with her sister, Jordana Horn, contributing editor to Kveller, host of the Call Your Mother podcast and former New York correspondent for the Jerusalem Post.
About the Series:
Temple Emanu-El’s Stettenheim Library is proud to present its fifth edition of Women on the Move, a virtual series with prominent female authors whose work addresses the currents women navigate through the often-treacherous waters of family, friendship and the intricacies of power. Join us for revealing conversations about those dilemmas, the challenges of writing and how the authors respond to the changing voices of women who refuse to settle.
The series is moderated by Zibby Owens, writer and creator of Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, one of Oprah Magazine’s favorite book podcasts; journalist Jordana Horn, cohost of the Call Your Mother podcast and contributing editor at Kveller; and Marjorie Shuster, Coordinator of Literary Events at Temple Emanu-El.
Sponsored by:
The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation Authors’ Series, honoring Theodore and Caroline Newhouse and Susan Newhouse.