Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter, a reading and talk by Peter Manseau October 6, 2009

So how does the son of a Catholic priest and a former nun end up winning the 2008 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction? With virtually no prior exposure to Yiddish, Peter Manseau found himself working for the National Yiddish Book Center quite by accident. As he learned the language and immersed himself in books, he fell in love with Yiddish literature and eventually found inspiration for his much-lauded novel. Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter concerns a young translator’s relationship with Itsik Malpesh, a ninety-year-old Russian immigrant who considers himself the last Yiddish poet in America. As the young man translates Malpesh’s life, his own story unfolds, bringing together two paths that coincide in unexpected ways.

Songs for the Butcher's Daughter has also won Hadassah's Ribalow Prize for Jewish Fiction.

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