Lara Vapnyar in the News
Russian-American author discusses ‘Jews in her house'
The New Yorker
Mother Russia - A Q. and A. With Lara Vapnyar
The New York Observer
A Few Streaks of Bright Life In a Doggedly Desperate Place
The Boston Globe
Russian writers explore the immigrant experience
New York Times
Her Killer Meatballs Are the Stuff of Fiction
Foundation for Jewish Culture
2004 Winner of the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers
A Reading and Conversation with Russian Jewish Author Lara Vapnyar
November 2010
Novelist and short story writer Lara Vapnyar read and spoke at Brandeis under the auspices of the Brandeis-Genesis Institute on Wednesday, November 3. Ms. Vapnyar, who immigrated to the U.S. from Russia in 1994, is the author of There are Jews in My House, Memoirs of a Muse, and Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love.
The main event featured a reading of her story "Salad Olivier" and a conversation about life, love, and literature with Professor Irina Dubinina, director of the Russian Language Program at Brandeis. Ms. Vapnyar spoke about the trials of growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union, the "liberating" effect of writing in English, her second language, and the challenges of speaking both to a Russian-American and broader American reading audience.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Vapnyar met with graduate students in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and visited Professor Dubinina's class, "Russian for Heritage Speakers."
Lara Vapnyar's appearance on campus was co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and the Russian Studies Program.
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