>From Lisa Silverman's recommendation on Hasafran last year, we booked David Schmahmann to speak at our synagogue this past weekend. We were not disappointed! Saturday after Kiddish he met with our book club to discuss his novels Empire Settings and Ivory from Paradise. 33 people attended, our largest turn-out ever! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the book and his presentation was interesting and engaging. On Sunday morning he gave an impressive presentation about the Jews of South Africa to an over-flow crowd at the Men's Club event. Again, he was extremely well-received by the audience and the feedback was only positive. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and was extremely generous with his time. He travels extensively all over the country for his job as an attorney and since his visit coincided with a business trip to Chicago we did not have to cover his travel expenses. He also does not require an honorarium. Below is more information about him or visit his website at www.davidschmahmann.com <http://www.davidschmahmann.com/> . He is interested in doing more author events and I highly recommend him to all of my colleagues.
Rachel Kamin, Director The Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center North Suburban Synagogue Beth El 1175 Sheridan Road Highland Park, IL 60035 847/432-8903 x242 or [email protected] <blocked::mailto:[email protected]> Office Hours: Mondays 12-8 pm; Wednesdays & Thursdays 9 am-5 pm; Sunday mornings (when school is in session) David Schmahmann's first novel, Empire Settings, published by Plume in 2002, won the SUNY John Gardner Book Award in 2003, and was also the South African Sunday Times Book of the Week. The book focuses on the story of Danny Divin who becomes involved in an illicit and doomed romance with a mixed-race schoolgirl, a relationship that has a profound impact on his life and his Jewish family during the end of the apartheid era in South Africa. The companion novel, Ivory from Paradise, was published by Academy Chicago in 2011. It continues the saga of the Divin family. When their beloved anti-apartheid activist mother, Helga, dies, Danny and his family return home from Boston to arrange a Jewish memorial service in their native Durban, South Africa, where they must fight their step-father for ownership of their late father's collection of African artifacts. Schmahmann is also the author of The Double Life of Alfred Buber and Nibble & Kuhn. He was born in Durban, South Africa and is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Cornell Law School. He has studied in India and Israel, worked in Burma, and now practices law in Boston, and lives in Weston, Massachusetts.
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
