News & Events

UNC Asheville's Center for Jewish Studies to Host Talk by Acclaimed Jewish Author Howard Schwartz

March 16, 2010

UNC Asheville's Center for Jewish Studies will host an evening with acclaimed Jewish author Howard Schwartz at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at UNC Asheville's Reuter Center. Schwartz will give a talk on "Tales of the Great Jewish Mystics," which is his most popular program. Following the talk, UNC Asheville's Hillel student organization will host a havdalah ceremony and dessert reception. Events are free and open to the public.

Schwartz, a celebrated writer, poet and storyteller, is widely known for gathering more than a thousand Jewish stories and publishing them with expert commentary for both children and adults. The author of dozens of books, Schwartz has won the prestigious National Jewish Book Award three times. He is also the recipient of the Aesop Prize from the American Folklore Society, the Koret International Jewish Book Award for Top Ten Children's Books, and the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, among others.

Schwartz is a professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He lives in St. Louis with his wife Tsila, a calligrapher, and his three children.

"Tales of the Great Jewish Mystics" is the Phyllis Freed Sollod Annual Memorial Lecture. This annual event is made possible through an endowment established by Norman Sollod in memory of his wife, who was an active leader in the Asheville Jewish community.

For more information, call UNC Asheville's Center for Jewish Studies at 828/232-5027.