Jewish writers from around the world to attend Kisufim conference

Jewish writers from arou

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Poets and writers from Israel and all over the world will be coming together in Jerusalem for the third annual Kisufim Conference, a series of special workshops and meetings in Russian, English, French, Hungarian, Serbian and Spanish. The conference, which takes place December 7-10 at Beit Avi Chai and at Mishkenot Sha'ananim, aims to "encourages encounters between Israeli creativity - in Hebrew and other languages - and world Jewish creativity that is both multilingual and multicultural," according to the organizers. Some of the issues to be tackled in the meetings include the writer's identity, the meaning of exile today, the identity of text and place and the function of translation in a literary work with a Jewish identity. "It is no coincidence that the Hebrew acronym for this gathering is Kisufim (yearnings). Jerusalem has been the heart of yearning in Jewish literature for many generations," the organizers said. This year's participants include Miriam Anisimov (France), Jonathan Rosen (USA), Dara Horn (USA), Rodger Kamenetz (USA), Linda Grant (UK), Marcelo Birmajer (Argentina), Ilan Stavans (Mexico/USA), Emmanuel Moses (France) Robert Schindel (Austria), Esther Bendahan (Spain), Lucette Lagnado (Egypt/USA), Lisa Ginzburg (Italy), Geza Rohrig (Hungary/USA), Angel Wagenstein (Bulgaria), Alessandro Piperno (Italy) and Norman Manea (USA).