Upcoming
October 19, 2026
Brief readings of poetry, theatre, fiction and song lyrics, performed in its original language and in English translation.
*This talk will be in Yiddish.*
Sweden is unique among European countries in not only recognizing Yiddish as a minority language in 1999 but providing long-term governmental support. In the last twenty or so years, the Nordic country has experienced a small scale Yiddish “renaissance” that makes it the envy of Yiddish enthusiasts worldwide. Prof. Jan Schwarz of Lund University will explain this development and demonstrate how Yiddish Studies and culture have found a place in academia, entertainment, media, publishing, and more in a country with some 20-25,000 Jews.
Jan Schwarz is Associate Professor of Yiddish at Lund University in Sweden. His books include Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture After the Holocaust (2021) and Imagining Lives: Autobiographical Fiction of Yiddish Writers (2005).
The Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University
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