CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF JEWISH CULTURE at the FACULTY of PHILOLOGY, UNIVERSITY of ŁÓDŹ and MAREK EDELMAN DIALOGUE CENTER in ŁÓDŹ invite you to participate in the International Academic Conference

CHAVA ROSENFARB AND JEWISH FEMALE WRITERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

The centenary of the birth of Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011), a writer born in Łódź who primarily created her literary work in post-war Canada and is regarded as the most prominent contemporary Yiddish-language writer, is an opportunity to reflect academically not only on her novels, poems, and essays but also on the work of other twentieth-century Jewish female writers who articulated their Jewish, female, and gender experiences in similar or different ways. We wish to expand our area of focus, even though Rosenfarb’s texts themselves are already highly interesting material for investigating autobiographical motifs in literature, fictional representations of the Holocaust, records of the ghetto experience, attempts through literature to recreate the lost worlds of the shtetl and Jewish Łódź, or the “gender traces” that have marked all of these worlds. We want to reflect on the works of Jewish female authors writing in the twentieth century and not only in Yiddish – such as Chava Rosenfarb – but also in Polish and Hebrew, as well as in the languages of the countries in which these authors lived and worked, or to which they felt connected.

Conference participants are invited to reflect on:

• Writing of Jewish woman towards:

– cultural traditions (religious, moral, artistic, literary, etc.)

– modernisation processes

– antisemitism

– social and political movements

– experiences of the Holocaust: the ghetto, life in hiding, concentration camp (in fiction and egodocuments)

– diaspora experiences

– assimilation and identity issues

• Genres and styles of work by Jewish female writers in the twentieth century
• Mama-loshen and other languages of their expression
• The work of female writers from Jewish Łódź, with a particular focus on Chava Rosenfarb
• Related themes as well

Please send abstracts of up to 2,500 characters  and  a short bio to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 1 March 2023.

Conference date: 18-20 October 2023

Languages: Polish and English

Conference fee: 450 PLN / 100 €

The organisers provide two nights’ accommodation with breakfast (18/19 and 19/20 October 2023) at the University of Łódź hotel, participation in the official banquet, and side events organised as part of the Centennial Birthday of Chava Rosenfarb

ORGANISERS:

Dr hab. Małgorzata Domagalska, UŁ professor

(Institute of Polish Philology and Logopaedics, University of Łódź)

Dr hab. Danuta Szajnert, UŁ professor

(Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of Łódź)

Dr Joanna Podolska

(Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of Łódź & Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Łódź)

CONFERENCE SECRETARY:

Dr Julia Dynkowska

(Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of Łódź)

“The CHAVA ROSENFARB AND JEWISH FEMALE WRITERS

OF THE 20TH CENTURY” international conference will be held as part of THE CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY OF CHAVA ROSENFARB celebrated in Łódź