The Rediscovery of Yiddish Women Writers Frieda Forman in Conversation with Vivian Felsen

After decades of neglect by scholars and readers, Yiddish literature written by women is finally beginning to get its due. Join Frieda Forman, editor of the trail-blazing anthology of Yiddish woman writers Found Treasures, in conversation with Vivian Felsen, award-winning Toronto translator. They will discuss their roles in the rediscovery, translation and publication of Yiddish women’s writing and their efforts on behalf of the future of Yiddish.

Frieda Johles Forman was born in Vienna in 1937 into a Yiddish-speaking family. After the war, she and her parents migrated to the USA. Frieda (Freydl) attended Hebrew Teachers' College in Boston and subsequently taught Hebrew and Jewish Studies. She holds a graduate degree in modern philosophy.

Her move to Canada enabled her to expand her scholarly interests to include women's studies with a subspecialty of Jewish women writers. She founded and directed the Women's Educational Resources Centre at OISE/ University of Toronto for over two decades. She sharpened her formal Yiddish by attending the Oxford Yiddish Program and Hebrew University.

Among her published books are Found Treasures: Stories By Yiddish Women Writers (1994), The Exile Book of Yiddish Women Writers (2013), Taking Our Time: Feminist Perspectives on Temporality(1989), and Jewish Refugees in Switzerland During the Holocaust : A memoir of Childhood and History ( 1994).