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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

A statue of a woman sitting in front of a bookshelf full of books

Want to explore Jewish women's lives through new and thought-provoking literary fiction, memoir and more? Want to connect first hand with those who create it? The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series, dedicated in honor of our beloved Conversations friend, Sandy Silberman, z"l, brings us together to share stories that explore the diversity of Jewish women's experiences across the world from yesterday and today.

"When I first read your book, I was inspired by your story and your writing. Listening to you describe some of your experiences personally yesterday was a treat, and added even more depth to your story for me." — Rabbi Beth Naditch, sharing her thoughts with a HBI Conversations author

We encourage you to purchase the books, read in advance, and bring your thoughts and questions to discuss with our authors.

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What types of books are selected?

We select both literary fiction and nonfiction, including memoirs, biographies and scholarly essays. These include research supported by HBI, whether written by HBI Scholars-in-Residence or recipients of HBI research awards, and books published in the HBI Series on Jewish Women. All of our books will focus on themes related to Jews and gender.

See a partial list of authors who have participated in the HBI Conversations Program.

Which authors are joining the Sandra Seltzer Silberman Conversations Series this year? When are the events?

2025-2026 Authors

Tracy Slater

Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp

September 18, 2025

12:30 pm EDT | Online

Cosponsored by the Brandeis University Alumni Association

Together in Manzanar brings into focus the dark episode in American history, set in motion by the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, when the US government imprisoned in detention camps tens of thousands of Japanese Americans due to the unfounded fear of anyone in America with even “one drop” of Japanese blood. Among the incarcerated were over 2,000 members of mixed-race families — including Elaine Buchman Yoneda, a Jewish American woman, Karl Yoneda, her Japanese American husband, and their three-year-old son, Tommy. Slater’s intimate account explores painful choices and conflicting loyalties, including Elaine’s leaving behind her White daughter from a previous marriage, the upheaval and violence that followed, and the Yonedas’ quest to survive with their children’s lives intact and their family safe and whole.

Tracy Slater is an American writer from Boston living temporarily in Toronto, although usually based in Japan, her husband's country. Her essays and articles have been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Best Women's Travel Writing, The Boston Globe, and Literary Hub, among other places. Slater’s first book, The Good Shufu: Finding Love, Self and Home on the Far Side of the World, was published in 2015. Slater received her doctorate in English and American Literature from Brandeis University and taught for ten years at various Boston-area universities as well as in men's and women's prisons throughout Massachusetts.

Together in Manzanar is available at Chicago Review Press, Amazon, and your local bookseller.

Additional authors coming soon.