Book Launch & Poetry Reading for Jamie Wendt
May 4 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Join us for the launch of Laughing in Yiddish by Jamie Wendt, a collection of persona and ekphrastic poems that explore the lives of Jewish women in Russia’s Pale of Settlement and their journey to Chicago. Through vivid character portrayals, the poems delve into themes of immigration, assimilation, and the struggle to maintain cultural traditions. Laughing in Yiddish offers a heartfelt reflection on Jewish heritage and the longing for connection to spiritual ancestors.
This event is free and open to the public. Click the event link below to register!
Book Synopsis:
Laughing in Yiddish takes readers to the shtetls of Russia’s Pale of Settlement to look through various windows into the lives of Jewish women. Through persona and ekphrastic poems, readers meet cigarette makers, young mothers, rebellious children, shoemakers, and union laborers, some of whom are photographed as part of ethnographer S. An-Sky’s Russian expedition from 1912-1914. In addition, many of the characters in these persona poems are Wendt’s ancestors who emigrated to Chicago from the Pale of Settlement in the late nineteenth century, escaping religious persecution and economic hardships. These poems explore Jewish roots and culture in Chicago as well as the struggle of assimilation while holding on to tradition. At the heart of Laughing in Yiddish is a yearning for belonging to an ancient community and finding connection with spiritual ancestors.
About the Author:
Jamie Wendt is the author of the poetry collection Laughing in Yiddish (Broadstone Books, March 2025), which was a finalist for the 2022 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry. Her first book, Fruit of the Earth (Main Street Rag, 2018), won the 2019 National Federation of Press Women Book Award in Poetry. Her poems and essays have been published and are forthcoming in various literary journals and anthologies, including Feminine Rising, Catamaran, Green Mountains Review, Lilith, Jet Fuel Review, the Forward, Clockhouse, Consequence, Minyan Magazine, and others. She contributes book reviews to the Jewish Book Council. She won third prize in the 2024 Reuben Rose Poetry Competition and won second prize for the 2024 Holloway Free Verse Award through the Illinois State Poetry Society. Wendt holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids.
Follow her online at jamie-wendt.com or on Instagram @jamiewendtpoet