Ruth Behar with Hannah Pressman — 'Across So Many Seas'

Third Place Books is pleased to welcome cultural anthropologist and writer Ruth Behar to our Ravenna store for a discussion of her new middle grade book, , a story of four Sephardic girls in four different times and places united by their desire to belong and to matter. She will be joined in conversation by scholar and writer Hannah Pressman. This event is free and open to the public.

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This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.

In 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, Benvenida and her family are banished from Spain for being Jewish. They journey by foot and by sea, eventually settling in Istanbul. Over four centuries later, in 1923, shortly after the Turkish war of independence, Reina’s father disowns her for a small act of disobedience. He ships her away to live with an aunt in Cuba. In 1961, Reina’s daughter, Alegra, is proud to be a brigadista, teaching literacy in the countryside. But soon Fidel Castro’s crackdowns force her to flee to Miami, leaving her parents behind. In 2003, Alegra’s daughter, Paloma, is fascinated by all the journeys that had to happen before she could be born. A keeper of memories, she’s thrilled to learn more about her heritage on a trip to Spain, where she makes a momentous discovery.
Though many years and many seas separate these girls, they are united by their desire to belong and to matter, and by the haunting beauty they find in sad Spanish songs--and each is lucky to stand on the shoulders of her courageous ancestors.

Ruth Behar (ruthbehar.com), the Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Lucky Broken Girl and Letters from Cuba, was born in Havana, Cuba, grew up in New York, and has also lived in Spain and Mexico. Her work also includes poetry, memoir, and the acclaimed travel books An Island Called Home and Traveling Heavy. She was the first Latina to win a MacArthur Genius Grant, and other honors include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and being named a Great Immigrant by the Carnegie Corporation. An anthropology professor at the University of Michigan, she lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Hannah S. Pressman received her PhD in modern Hebrew literature from New York University. She is the Director of Education and Engagement at the HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project, and affiliate faculty in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington. She is also co-director of the American Ladino League (ALL), a new non-profit organization which supports the community of Judeo-Spanish students and teachers in the United States. Dr. Pressman has published widely on Jewish religion, language, and culture for a range of ages and audiences. Currently, she is at work on a memoir connecting her Sephardic family history to explorations of American Jewish identity.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, Seattle, United States