Up-and-coming author Lara Vapnyar shares selections from her writing that are amusing, poignant, and wonderfully evocative of the Russian-Jewish-American corner of Brooklyn she once called home. From the elderly Russian babushkas who stagger dramatically around New York to the single immigrants looking for love in English language classes, her characters come to life in this interview by PJC Director Jacques Berlinerblau.

Lara Vapnyar emigrated from Russia to New York in 1994 and began publishing short stories in English in 2002. She is the author of two collections of short stories, There are Jews in My House and Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love, as well as one novel, Memoirs of a Muse. She teaches fiction at New York University. Ms. Vapnyar lives on Staten Island and is pursuing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at CUNY Graduate Center.
 

Read more about Lara Vapnyar

New York Times Interview of Lara Vapnyar
 

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