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Contact: Glenn Ingersoll
Library Specialist II
Berkeley Public Library Claremont Branch
510-981-9280

Poetry Reading and Discussion with Judy Bebelaar
at Berkeley Public Library

Berkeley CA-- January 29--Bay Area poet Judy Bebelaar reads her poems, followed by an interview and discussion on Saturday, 2:00 – 3:00pm, February 27th at the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library. Bebelaar taught in San Francisco public high schools for 37 years, and her students won many writing honors, including eight Scholastic Writing Awards. Bebelaar’s poetry has also won prizes and has been published widely, including in the anthologies The Widows’ Handbook (Kent State University, 2014), Turning a Train of Thought Upside Down (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2012) and River of Earth and Sky (ed. Diane Frank, Blue Light Press, 2015).

Her chapbook, Walking Across the Pacific (Finishing Line Press), was published in 2014. A free chapbook of Judy Bebelaar’s poetry is available at Berkeley Public Library branches. Please pick one up!

She co-hosts a reading series for the Bay Area Writing Project at Expressions Gallery in Berkeley with Marty Williams.

This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library.

The Claremont Branch is located at 2940 Benvenue, Berkeley CA 94795, and is open: Monday, 10:00am-6:0 pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, 10:00am-8:00pm, Thursday 12noon-8:00pm, and Friday and Saturday, 10:00am-6:00pm. For more information about this program call 510-981-6280.

Wheelchair accessible. For questions, to request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6195 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs. Visit the library’s website.

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David Howd, Librarian
North Branch Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6254
Contact: Jef Findley, Librarian
Central Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6142

Dora Sorell: Holocaust Survivor and Author of Tell the Children
To Make Two Appearances at the Berkeley Public Library

Berkeley CA--January 6, 2016—The Berkeley Public Library is offering two chances to hear Berkeley resident Dora Apsan Sorell, a 94 year old survivor of Auschwitz this month. Ms.  Sorell is speaking at North Branch on Wednesday, January 13, at 3:30pm and at the Central Library on Saturday, January 30 from 1:00-2:30pm. For questions regarding this program, call 510-981-6123.

A retired physician, lecturer and writer, Sorell was born in Sighet, a small town in northern Romania, into a very traditional Jewish family. She graduated high school in 1940 as the occupying Hungarian fascist regime started to persecute the Jews. In 1944 the Nazis occupied Hungary, deporting the entire Jewish population of her town to Auschwitz. Sorrel lost her parents, two brothers and most of her extended family.

"When my first grandchild ... was born, it dawned on me that the new generation ... would grow up without knowing who we are and where we came from ... all that we suffered and lost during the Nazi era. Unless I told them." So begins Ms. Sorell's fascinating and crucial memoir, Tell the Children, Letters to Miriam. And tell them, she does. With graphic detail, Sorell writes letters to her granddaughter describing her life in the "old country." Her book will be available for purchase and signing.

"They're vignettes, really," Sorell says. When memories would come to her, she would write a letter, tell a story. Sometimes it would be once a week, sometimes it would be twice a day. "Some were sad, others tragic," she writes in the book's preface, "yet many were funny or sweet, as life and memories usually are.” Visit her website to learn more.

The North Branch is located at 1170 The Alameda Berkeley, CA 94707, and is open: Monday, 10:00am-6:00pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, 10:00am-8:00pm, Thursday, noon -8:00pm, and Friday and Saturday, 10:00am-6:00pm. The Central Library is located at 2090 Kittredge Street, Berkeley, CA 94704, and is open Monday, noon - 8:00pm, Tuesday, 10:00am - 8:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am - 6:00pm, and Sunday from 1:00pm - 5:00pm.

Wheelchair accessible. For questions, to request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6195 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs. Visit the library’s website.

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