June 8, 2009 Cultural Anthropologist Nomi Stone to Read Her Poems Inspired by Study of Tunisian Jews
Press Contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022
Public Contact: Peggy Pearlstein (202) 707-3779
Djerba, Tunisia, remains one of the last cohesive Jewish communities in North Africa. Inspired by her study of the Jews of Djerba and their Muslim neighbors, cultural anthropologist Nomi Stone has published a book of poetry titled “Stranger’s Notebook” (TriQuarterly Books, Northwest University Press).
Stone will read from her debut collection of verses at the Library of Congress at noon on Wednesday, June 24, in the African and Middle Eastern Division conference room, located on the second floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C.
The event, which is sponsored by the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.
Stone is a doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology at Columbia University. She earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Oxford University, and held a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing in Tunisia. She has received poetry fellowships and grants from the Vermont Studio Center and the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its Web site at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized Web site at myLOC.gov.
The African and Middle Eastern Division is the Library’s center for the study of some 77 countries and regions from Southern Africa to the Maghreb and from the Middle East to Central Asia. The Hebraic Section supports reference and research activities related to the Ancient Near East, pre-Islamic Egypt, biblical studies, Jewish studies and ancient and modern Israel. The section has custody of materials in a variety of formats in Hebrew and its cognates, including Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, as well as Amharic, Coptic and Syriac. For more information about the division and its holdings, visit www.loc.gov/rr/amed/.
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PR 09-114
2009-06-09
ISSN 0731-3527