Letty Cottin Pogrebin in Conversation: A Jewish Book Council Author Talk about Her Memoir Shanda

Wednesday, October 19 at 7pm on Zoom / Please note that this event requires a fee of $20

Co-hosted by Falmouth Jewish Congregation, the North Shore Jewish Community Center and the Worcester Jewish Community Center

To register for Zoom, visit the North Shore JCC website: https://jccns.org/event/letty-cottin-pogrebin-shanda-a-memoir-of-shame-and-secrecy/

Book are available from our partner, Eight Cousins Bookshop in Falmouth: https://www.eightcousins.com

What the reviewers are saying:

“Pogrebin writes with sympathy and affection...A wise, funny look behind the curtains of a family that, it would seem, has little to be ashamed of.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

An intimate memoir from a founding editor of Ms. magazine who grew up in a Jewish immigrant family mired in secrets, haunted by their dread of shame and stigma, determined to hide their every imperfection—and in denial or despair when they couldn’t.

“The richness of Pogrebin’s stories, the complexity and beauty of her storytelling, and her devastatingly honest soul-baring make Shanda a powerfully stunning piece of life and art.”
—Mayim Bialik, actor, author, neuroscientist, and co-host of Jeopardy

About the book and author:

Shan­da (shame or dis­grace in Yid­dish), tells the sto­ry of three gen­er­a­tions of 20th-cen­tu­ry Jews for whom the desire to fit in and the fear of pub­lic humil­i­a­tion either drove their aspi­ra­tions or crushed their spir­it. In her deeply engag­ing, aston­ish­ing­ly can­did mem­oir, author and activist Let­ty Cot­tin Pogre­bin expos­es the fiercely guarded lies and intri­cate cover­ups woven by her extend­ed fam­i­ly. Begin­ning with her own long suppressed secret, the sto­ry spi­rals through the hid­den lives of her par­ents and rel­a­tives — reveal­ing the truth about their ori­gins, per­son­al trau­mas, mar­i­tal mis­ery, aban­doned chil­dren, reli­gious trans­gres­sions, sex­u­al iden­ti­ty, rad­i­cal pol­i­tics, and sup­pos­ed­ly embar­rass­ing ill­ness­es. While unmask­ing their cha­rades and dis­guis­es, Pogre­bin also show­cas­es her family’s remark­able tal­ent for rein­ven­tion in a nar­ra­tive that is touch­ing, sear­ing, and sur­pris­ing­ly universal.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin will be interviewed by Shelley Sackett, attorney, freelance journalist, and former editor of the Jewish Journal. Pogrebin will be on Zoom and projected to a live audience at the JCCNS. Zoom only tickets will also available.