Erika Dreifus

I’ve got some kind of bug this week–I had to leave my Monday class a little early and haven’t quite managed to get everything accomplished that I’ve been hoping to. (And if you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, I may just be undergoing a root canal for the first time as you do so! Fun times!)

But here are a couple of tidbits from the week just past.

An Evening with Michal Lemberger, Author of After Abel and Other Stories

Last Thursday brought another one of those wonderful opportunities to meet a writer I’ve come to know over the Internet “in real life.” The writer in question is Michal Lemberger, whose byline I first noticed in 2012 when, for Slate, Michal wrote about her quest to reclaim her family’s German citizenship (a topic that I, too, have written about). A couple of years later, I was bowled over by the fictional “Lot’s Wife,” published in Lilith; I was equally impressed by the entire collection of which “Lot’s Wife” is now a part.

And Michal was promoting that collecting, After Abel and Other Stories, here in New York this past week. I’m delighted that I was able to attend one of her events (and hang out with Michal for a little while afterward). A definite highlight of recent days.

#AmReading

This one has been on my tbr list for some time. Over the weekend, for what are likely obvious reasons, I was especially motivated to pick up a book published in French. And so I began reading this one.

A note: My copy of Signor Hoffman is a translation. It was originally written in Spanish. Not for the first time has the ability to read French allowed me access to work from another language that I don’t read. And not for the first time am I oh-so-grateful to literary translators.

(I do hope that the book will be fully available, at some point, in English. For now, you can read an excerpt published recently on Electric Literature.)

To Be Continued

Sorry for the abbreviated post this week. I will hope to have a more robust offering for you next Wednesday!