Discovering and Translating Yiddish Writer Blume Lempel

Blume Lempel was born in what is now Ukraine, spent time in Paris as a young woman, then fled to New York just before the Second World War, where she wrote works of Yiddish fiction until her death in 1999. Ellen Cassedy and her translation partner, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, have brought Lempel’s unique storytelling to light in their recent publication Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories. Cassedy joins us to speak about what drew them to Lempel’s stories and gives a taste of her bold, surprising work.