Brotherhood Breakfast: Yiddish Pirates Made Me Jewish

Discovering a Brave “Nu” World While Writing the Novel Yiddish for Pirates

Sunday, March 6, 2016
Brotherhood Breakfast after shacharit services.

Gary Barwin will read from his forthcoming novel Yiddish for Pirates and discuss various aspects of the writing process as a Jewish author.

These elements will include his investigation of the use of Yiddish in his writing, and his historical influences for the book, a list which includes Columbus, the Inquisition, the exploration of the New World, Native culture, and approaches to memory and the Holocaust. He will also reflect on how writing Yiddish for Pirates greatly intensified his interest in his Jewish heritage and culture.

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, multimedia artist and the author of twenty books of poetry, fiction and books for children. His recent books include the soon to be released Yiddish for Pirates (Random House Canada), the short fiction collection, I, Dr. Greenblatt, Orthodontist, 251-1457, and the poetry collection Moon Baboon Canoe. A PhD in music composition, Barwin has been Writer-in-Residence at Western University and Young Voices E-Writer-in-Residence at the Toronto Public Library, and has taught cre­ative writing at a number of colleges and universities. He will be writer-in-residence at several shelters/custody facilities with ArtForms’ “Writers in the House” program for at-risk youth. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Born in Northern Ireland to South African parents of Ashkenazi descent, Barwin moved to Canada as a child. He is married with three adult children and lives in Hamilton, Ontario.