Avram Stencl: The Yiddish Poet of Whitechapel

Online Event

This illustrated talk by Rachel Lichtenstein examines the life and work of London’s foremost Yiddish poet Avram Nachum Stencl (1897–1983) who was born in Poland in the late nineteenth century into a rabbinical dynasty. In 1921 he settled in Berlin and began publishing his poetry, which attracted the attention of the literary elite, including Thomas Mann.

After narrowly escaping the Gestapo he arrived in London in 1936 and spent the rest of his life passionately dedicated to the preservation of the Yiddish language. Stencl became one of the most familiar figures of Jewish Whitechapel, standing outside the lecture halls, meeting places and cafes, crying out, koyfts a heft! – Buy a pamphlet. He established the longest running literary group in the UK but is now practically unknown.

Come and learn more about this extraordinary figure. If you have memories of Stencl to share Rachel would be delighted to hear from you.

Dr Rachel Lichtenstein is a writer, curator and artist. Her publications include Estuary: Out from London to the Sea, Diamond Street, On Brick Lane, Rodinsky’s Room, Keeping Pace: Older Women of the East End, A Little Dust Whispered and Rodinsky’s Whitechapel. Her artwork has been widely exhibited both in the UK and internationally. She is a Reader in Creative Writing and History at Manchester Metropolitan University and currently writing a book on Stencl and on Jewish Women of the East End. For more information, see www.rachellichtenstein.com

This event will be chaired by writer and journalist David Herman, whose father Josef Herman was a close friend of Stencl.

To book, click here.