Acharei Kiddush: Author Marlena Maduro Baraf

Marlena Maduro Baraf, a Jewish Latina, will read and discuss issues from her memoir, At the Narrow Waist of the World.Essential to her story is the role that her colorful, extended family of Spanish-Portuguese Sephardic Jews had in nurturing her in the face of a mother’s mental illness. She will talk about growing up with a sense of otherness and discuss the story of this historic community before and after they arrived in Panama in the 1850s.______________________Marlena Madura Baraf immigrated to the United States from her native Panama and her writing is colored by this dual identity. Her work has been published in Ms. Magazine, Lilith, Lumina, Sweet, Huffington Post, the Jewish Book Council’s newsletter, and others. In past lives Marlena was book editor at Harper & Row and McGraw-Hill book companies in New York City; she studied at Parsons School of Design also in NYC and the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.In reviewing the memoir, the Jewish Journal wrote: “By the end of At the Narrow Waist of the World we have come to know, admire and even cherish its author in a way few memoirists manage to achieve.” See a full review.Learn more about the author.Members see the dedicated email, Weekly Calendar or Members side of the website for the Zoom link.Non-members may contact the office to obtain the Zoom link.