Jo
y Ladin will be visiting UConn on March 12, 2015, for a series of events that will take place throughout the day.
Joy Ladin’s return to Yeshiva University as a woman after receiving tenure as a man made her the first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution and made page-3 news in the New York Post. Her memoir of gender transition, Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders, was a finalist for a 2012 National Jewish Book Award, and winner of a Forward Fives award, and she was named to the 2012 Forward 50 list of influential or courageous American Jews. She is also the author of six books of poetry, including Psalms and Lambda Literary Award finalist Transmigration; her seventh collection, Impersonation, is due out in 2015.
She holds the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University. Her work has been recognized with a Fulbright Scholarship and an American Council of Learned Societies research fellowship. She has spoken about gender identity issues around the country, and was featured on NPR’s “On Being” with Krista Tippett and other NPR programs. She serves on the Board of Keshet, a national organization devoted to full inclusion of LGTBQ Jews in the Jewish world.
Dr. Ladin will be the guest at a staged conversation with students from Dr. Jeffrey Shoulson’s Jewish American Literature and Culture Course, as well as students from some WGSS courses and any others interested in attending. This special event will begin at 11:00 am in Class of ’47 Room of the Library. Following the class room visit, The Center for Judaic Studies will be hosting a luncheon meet and greet for Joy, in collaboration with the Rainbow Center, Women’s Center, English Department, WGSS, and Creative Writing. All students, faculty, staff, and others are invited and welcome to attend. The luncheon will be held in the Student Union Room 310. Please RSVP if you will attend so that we can have accurate count for lunch.
At 4:00 pm, the Storrs-Center Co-Op Book store will host Dr. Ladin for a reading from her new published memoirs titled, “Through the Door of Life”. This event is open to the public, and all are invited and welcome to attend. It will be a great opportunity to hear some excerpts from her latest book.
We welcome Joy to UConn and are looking forward to a successful collaborative effort of events, and hope you all reach out and welcome Joy, and attend any of these events that you are able to!