FAREWELL, MAMA ODESSA book presentation

Award-winning author Emil Draitser will discuss the fascinating topic of the modern-day exodusand the Soviet Jewry Movement lending depth with his own experience and expertise. He will then present his new book on Jewish emigration from the former Soviet Union. Set in the summer of 1979 at the height of the movement to free Soviet Jewry and dedicated to its activists, Farewell, Mama Odessa is an autobiographical book that describes his characters’ anxiety as they make their way to America and the challenges they face in the new land.

Emil Draitser is the author of twelve volumes of artistic and scholarly prose, including Shush! Growing Up Jewish under Stalin: A Memoir; Stalin’s Romeo Spy; and Forbidden Laughter: Soviet Underground Jokes. He is also a professor emeritus of Russian at Hunter College.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Cojeco and Tianaderrah Foundation.