Jewish Book Week in London, the USA Yiddish Museum and the Jewish Sherlock Holmes !

 

Jewish book week, an annual event, takes place in London in late February, 28 Feb to March 8th in 2026.

I read through all the events, which feature authors, as well as a couple of workshops where you can do your own writing.

Some of the events you must pay for in advance. Others are free. But free events are still ticketed, so that presumably the limited number of seats are allocated on a 'first come first served' basis, in this case first applied first allocated seats

The venue is near, about 8 minutes walk from, Kings Cross and St Pancras station.

Subjects covered range from biblical era stories - researching the book of Esther as seen my Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Famous names pop up from the pop world, Bob Dylan.  And songwriter Carole King. 

New books, new looks at the Kindertransport, the Holocaust, modern Israel, the hostages and Israelis working with Palestinian Arabs from or in Gaza.

My favourite new discovery was the translation of a book translated from Yiddish about a Yiddish speaking detective, called the Jewish Sherlock Holmes. Fifteen stories of drama and disguise, rescuing a kidnapped girl being just one of them.

An amusing book to read on holiday. And I discovered a holiday destination, connected with the Yiddish language.

The Yiddish library in Massachusetts on a university campus. 

They run Yiddish language course, have a Yiddish music festival, and have an online bookshop.

Yiddish Book Centre. USA.

Useful Websites

UK

https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/jewish-book-week

USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_Book_Center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outwitting_History

Watch the Barry sisters singing Rumania in Yiddish with a translation, an old film from the Thirties on You Tube. But my favourite version is the comical version by New York tenor, Moshe Schulhof. The song was by Aaron Lebedeff, written in 1923, but he died in 1960 and music copyright lasts 70 years after the death of the composer so it may still be in copyright until 2030. 

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Visit O-Henry's House Museum - Learn His Life Story With a twist and how to write twist-end stories

Once you have read the post popular O'Henry Christmas story, The Gift Of The Magi, you will remember the twist ending.

Spoiler - at Christmas she sells her beautiful long hair to buy him a watch strap, but he sells his watch to buy her - you have to read it, or at least read the plot.

It is his most famous twist ending story but he wrote many more. As an author I always wanted to know the endings of his stories and whether there was an pattern, and what if anything in his character led him to write those unusual stories. At last I have found the answers to all these questions. Let's start at the beginning of his life.

O'Henry lead an interesting life. In those days life expectancy was less and the number of children was more. He was one of almost a dozen siblings. His mother died when he was a child and his younger sister died.

When he came of age, he eloped with an heiress who had TB (also then called consumption.)

Embezzelement & Prison
He held a job but was suspected of embezzling and fled to Hondurus. But his wife was too ill to travel. When he heard she was dying, he returned, she died, and he was imprisoned.

Pen Names
Whilst in prion he wrote short stories, some based on people he met, or at least, their professions. Once of his stories is about a man trying to get sent to prison. Another is about a lock picker. He used various names as pen names, possibly, probably, partly to hide his identity whilst a prisoner. One pen-name resembled the name of one of the prison guards.

So, he needed money and wrote stories featuring characters he met in prison.

His other source of plots was obtained by loitering around hotel lobbies and copying characters and stories picked up from conversation. (Somerset Maugha also picked up stories in hotels.)

Plots And Twist Endings
You can read a summary of three or more of the plots of his twist end stories in Wikipedia.

By the end of his life he was a reformed and respected character. He has been featured on a US postage stamp and several US presidents have tried to award him a posthumus (meaning after burial in the ground) pardon.

Quotations from O'Henry
 ... life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

• "The Gift of the Magi"

Visit the O'Henry Museum in Austin, Texas.
And it's free!

Information Line
Phone: 512-974-1398.

O'Henry Museum
409 East 5th Street
Austin
Texas 78701
USA.
Opening hours: Sunday to Wednesday, noon to 5 pm.
Parking: On street metered parking.


US flag.

USA
visittheusa.co.uk

Texas

O'Henry House Museum (Information, map and directions)

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/o-henry-museum

O'Henry Books
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=Henry,+O.

O'Henry Life and Short Story Plots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry

O'Henry Quotations
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/O._Henry

About The Blog Post Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author of short stories. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Writing and Painting Courses in England and Wales, February and August - Plus Edinburgh Festival or Ireland

Writing Courses in England and Wales


In February 2019 you can attend the Writers Holiday in Fishguard, Wales.

The train goes to Fishguard and Goodwick from Paddington in London.  Fishguard and Goodwick station is just below the Fishguard Bay hotel which is on the clifftop.
The train runs here to the edge of WALES transporting tourists to the terminal where you catch the ferry across to Ireland.

Painting
Courses cover aspects of writing, and painting - so you can illustrate a book or paint a romantic or spooky scene to inspire a story. Susan Alison tells you all about perspective and colour. She is very thorough and helpful. Materials, watercolour paints, paper and brushes and so on, are provided.

Later in the year you could attend Swanwick, the Writers' Summer School in Swanwick village in Derbyshire. 

The programme is published on line.
Who will be there? The usual favourites including Della Galton, on writing a novel, a change from her usual area of expertise, short stories. Alison Chisholm as usual will be encouraging novice and seasoned poets, with her soothing voice.

Why book now. Why early? Why not wait? Because by booking now you are sure of getting a place if they are fully booked. Because you can choose the cheaper accommodation before it sells out. Because rooms are allocated when you book so you have a greater chance of getting the building you prefer, the level - ground or above, and the price your prefer - the cheaper rooms, or the dearer ones in prime position.

One year we went on from the Writers' Summer School to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland which is also in August.. We drove north from Swanwick across the border and took in several sights including a puppet theatre and the cave where Bruce reputedly saw the spider. (Several caves claim to be the one. I puzzled over this for several hours on the journey, as we passed motels. Eventually, after comparing the dates of the claims, I realised Bruce hopped around caves, over the years, between battles, like a modern man on the run would hop from motel to motel, evading pursuers.)

So go north from London to Scotland, by train or coach or car, or drive on from Swanwick. That's August. At a big conference centre. Accommodation prices vary at the Hayes Conference Centre which has several buildings.

A smaller, shorter, cheaper event is the long weekend at Wales in February at Fishguard Bay Hotel with views over the bay. 
If you travel to Wales by train you will see Welsh signs on the train and at the Welsh stations. You can learn Welsh through the free online website, Duolingo.

Writers' Holiday
Friday 15 to Sunday 17 Feb. Stay a day longer before or after and make sure you see the tapestry of the invasion of Fishguard by the French - and their capture by a group of women - displayed next to the library in the town hall.

Plenty to think about, talk about and write about, at your destination and surroundings at either of these holidays or both. Visitors travel from far away: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, the USA. So do the speakers and course leaders.

Swanwick 10-16 August 2019.

I tried to find my previous posts in this blog and could not - but a google search brought them up!

Useful Websites
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/07/fishguard-bay-and-films-in-wales.html
writersholiday.net
https://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/full-programme.html
duolingo.com

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my previous posts on both these holidays, and photos. 

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