Lawrence local writer R.B. Lemberg will present their new poetry collection, “Everything Thaws: A poetic cycle,” during a Tuesday evening reading and conversation at the Raven Book Store.
Lemberg is a queer, bigender immigrant from Eastern Europe and Israel whose stories and poems have appeared in numerous venues, according to a news release from the Raven.
Lemberg is the nom de plume of University of Kansas professor and Director of Jewish Studies Renee Perelmutter. They will give a reading followed by a conversation with fellow professor Vitaly Chernetsky and Q&A with the audience.
They have penned a “a manifesto of memories, unearthing worlds that are gone and poignantly present: their childhood in the Soviet Union, suspended between Ukraine and the permafrost of Siberia, among the traumatized, silent, persecuted members of their Jewish family; Lemberg’s coming of age in Israel, being the other wherever they go, both internally and externally, in multiple identities, languages, genders; and the arrival in ‘the lost land’ of their America, where they have put down ‘tentative roots,’” according to the release.
“The evening will also serve as a time to celebrate ‘Geometries of Belonging,’ Lemberg’s recent collection of stories and poetry, being a finalist for the esteemed Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction,” according to the release.
Chernetsky is a professor in KU’s Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies.
He is originally from Odesa, Ukraine, and he has been an active scholar and translator since the mid-1990s, according to the release. His translations into English include works of Yuri Andrukhovych and Alevtina Kakhidze, and two children’s books by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv.
The event is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12 a the Raven, 809 Massachusetts St. Masks are strongly encouraged for the event, according to the release.
Find more of Lemberg’s work on their Patreon, at patreon.com/rblemberg, and a full bio at their website, rblemberg.net.
