On Sunday, May 4, 2025, Woman Made Gallery hosted the launch and signing of Laughing in Yiddish, the newest poetry collection by Chicago-based poet Jamie Wendt. Held at WMG’s gallery space at 1332 S. Halsted St., the free public event welcomed guests to an afternoon of readings, conversation, and community connection.
Laughing in Yiddish, published by Broadstone Books in March 2025, explores the lives of Jewish women in Russia’s Pale of Settlement and their migration to Chicago, delving into themes of immigration, assimilation, cultural traditions, and the longing for ancestral connection.
Jamie Wendt, whose first book Fruit of the Earth won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry, has been widely published in literary journals and anthologies and contributes reviews to the Jewish Book Council. She has also received recognition in national competitions, including the 2024 Reuben Rose Poetry Competition and the Holloway Free Verse Award. The event highlighted Wendt’s powerful use of persona and ekphrastic poetry, while offering the community a chance to engage with her reflections on Jewish heritage and women’s voices across generations, in keeping with Woman Made Gallery’s mission to amplify women and non-binary artists.
Follow her online at https://jamie-wendt.com or on Instagram @jamiewendtpoet
WMG’s Literary Events Curator
Jae Green has been part of the Woman Made Gallery community since its earliest years at our first location in Ravenswood Manor, on Chicago’s Northwest Side. A visual artist, writer, and published poet, she joined WMG’s Board of Directors in 2020 and serves on the Program Committee. In 2022, she co-juried Generations, WMG’s 30th anniversary exhibition, with Marisa Miles, now WMG’s Board President.