Yid Lit: Carmela Ciuraru
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
For as long as there have been authors, there have been secret identities — pseudonyms — used by writers to unlock creativity, hide identity, or simply to become someone else. Carmela Ciuraru became interested in the literary pseudonym and recently published a book on the topic, “Nom de Plume.”
Something to Hide: Carmela Ciuraru wrote a book about writers who used pseudonyms between 1850 and 1950. Image by Jack Guy
In it, she profiles famous and infamous writers like Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll. Romain Gary chose that name to escape a Russian Yiddish one, and the Brontë sisters wrote as the Bell brothers so that their work would be read, not as women’s, but on its own terms.
"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
