Conversation with NoViolet Bulawayo, Najat El Hachmi and Jane Lazarre, moderated by Tania Adam
Jane on a panel in Barcelona at the Open City Thinking Biennial speaking on writing and narratives.
Interview with Jane Lazarre
Deborah Kalb sits down with Lazarre to discuss her latest book
Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir about your father, and how long did it take you to complete it?
A: I decided to write this memoir about my father over 40 years after his death for many reasons – some formal and intellectual, and some in Toni Morrison’s words, “deep story” reasons.
Public Seminar:
https://publicseminar.org/2018/09/interview-with-jane-lazarre/
The Forward – Review of The Communist and the Communist’s Daughter
“The Communist and the Communist’s Daughter tells the story of a family, of the struggle between old and new homelands, and of a man trying to balance his idealism with a reality that falls short of it.”
Jeff Fleischer, The Forward
https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-communist-and-the-communists-daughter/
The Communist and the Communist’s Daughter
In a letter to his baby grandson, Bill Lazarre wrote that “unfortunately, despite the attempts by your grandpa and many others to present you with a better world, we were not very successful.” Born in 1902 amid the pogroms in Eastern Europe, Lazarre dedicated his life to working for economic equality, racial justice, workers’ rights to name just a few of his goals. He was also dedicated to his family, especially his daughters, whom he raised as a single father following his wife’s death. In this highly nuanced and sensitively written book, Jane Lazarre weaves personal memories with documentary materials—such as her father’s massive FBI file—to tell his fascinating history as a communist, a Jew, and a husband, father, and grandfather.
Continue reading
http://lilith.org/blog/2017/08/the-communist-and-the-communists-daughter-an-interview-with-jane-lazarre/
Where Do They Keep All The White People?
I try to rise up each time the pits of Trump fears and anger draw me down. Many people speak of the tangle of old fears and new, past traumatic times bleeding into these times now, like a ruined watercolor painting — liquid stress muddying what needs above all at this time to be crystal clear. Friends talk of their inability to read the newspaper, watch television news or go to social media. “I listen to music, read a book, take a walk,” each one says. I do the same, but then we reverse ourselves: we must stay informed. How else to prepare for the inevitable struggles ahead?
Continue reading
http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/39237-where-do-they-keep-the-white-people