Acclaimed Israeli novelist and screenwriter Ayelet Gundar-Goshen will present Carleton College’s Forkosh Lecture in Judaic Studies on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. in Leighton Hall Room 304. Gundar-Goshen will discuss her second work of fiction, the award-winning novel “Waking Lions,” the first Israeli novel to focus on the African refugee experience in Israel.
Translated from Hebrew by Sondra Silverston, “Waking Lions” is “a sophisticated and darkly ambitious novel, revealing an aspect of Israeli life rarely seen in its literature.” (New York Times Book Review)
“Waking Lions” (Little, Brown and Company, 2017) won the 2017 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize and was named “Editors’ Choice” by the New York Times and included on the “Best Summer Reads” list by The Wall Street Journal. Her first novel published in the United States, “Waking Lions” has been translated into nine languages and is currently being made into a television series.
Gundar-Goshen’s first novel, “One Night, Markovitch” (Pushkin Press, 2015) won the Sapir Prize for debut novels, the Italian Adei-Wizo Prize, and the French Adei-Wizo Prize. It has been translated into 14 languages.
Born in Israel in 1982, Gundar-Goshen holds an MA in clinical psychology from Tel Aviv University. She has worked for the Israeli civil rights movement and is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a contributor to BBC The Cultural Frontline, Time magazine, Financial Times UK, and The Telegraph.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Department of Judaic Studies with support from the Forkosh Family Lectureship in Judaic Studies. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-7033. Leighton Hall is located off College Street on the Carleton campus and is accessible via Highway 19 in Northfield.
