Irene Katz Connelly is a staff writer at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.
Irene Katz Connelly
By Irene Katz Connelly
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Culture How Paul Auster writes doorstopper novels without touching a computer
This interview originally ran in the Forward’s books newsletter. To sign up for a monthly tour of the Jewish literary landscape, click here. When I asked Paul Auster what drew him to 19th-century author Stephen Crane, the subject of the literary biography he’s been writing for several years, he put the answer in personal terms….
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Culture The Asian-Jewish film series ‘LUNAR’ is back for a second season. Watch an episode here
Why are there so few Asian Jews in the movies? What does it mean for a TV show to be “authentic?” What’s up with “Mulan?” All these topics come up on this episode of LUNAR, a film series on Asian-Jewish identity which packs a lot into each of its segments. The project dates 2020, when…
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Culture At the Cloisters, an oddly-shaped window reveals hints of Jewish life in medieval Spain
Sometime in the 900s, a Spanish monk named Maius painted his version of Jerusalem. Rendered on vellum in precise detail and luminous color, the painting tells a very Christian story, imagining the harmonious city that might emerge after the Day of Judgment. But with its horseshoe arches, distinctive crenellations and tall flying buttresses, this ideal…
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Culture At a Jewish chicken farm, Sukkot is a time for homemade pesto, random dancing, and making friends with strangers
If you arrived at Linke Fligl around 3 p.m. last Sunday and ambled into the tall grassy meadow at the heart of the farm, you would have seen something curious: A bunch of Jews squatting in patches of goldenrod, counting their blessings. They — or rather we, since I was among them — were saying…
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The Schmooze Why the would-be heir to Nora Ephron is the least romantic rom-com you’ll ever see
“Dating And New York,” the most straightforwardly-titled film to hit theaters this fall, is supposed to take place over a number of months. But you wouldn’t be able to tell, because nearly every scene in this rom-com takes place in peak leaf-peeping season. It’s fall when brunch-prone, commitment-shy New Yorkers Milo (Jaboukie Young-White) and Wendy…
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Culture Francine Prose would like to return to eavesdropping on strangers
Francine Prose has written 22 novels. But a few minutes into our interview, we were talking about a very different accomplishment. Every morning, she does the New York Times Spelling Bee. And every morning (OK, almost every morning), she reaches the coveted “Genius” level. “This is going to be my one big boast of our…
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Culture How a 17th century mathematician inspired a very modern novel
Rivka Galchen showed up to our Zoom interview wearing white headphones and a baseball t-shirt bearing the words “Brooklyn Poets.” “I don’t even live in Brooklyn,” she said apologetically, twisting around to show me that the back was emblazoned with W.H. Auden’s name and adding that it was “super soft.” It made sense that Galchen…
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Culture Joyce Carol Oates on the fourth book she’s published this year
Joyce Carol Oates published two short story collections and a volume of poetry in the first six months of 2021, so you’d be forgiven for thinking she was done for the year. But you’d also be wrong. The author, whose prolific output has earned her acclaim and skepticism, has a fourth — and very personal…
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