YIVO Yiddish Club: Miglė Anušauskaitė and Her Yiddish Cartoons

Nu, vilst redn a bisele yidish? An event for Yiddish enthusiasts the world over, the YIVO Yiddish club is an informal monthly gathering to celebrate mame-loshn. Hosted by Shane Baker, sessions take place in English, and are liberally peppered with Yiddish. Each month Baker is joined by a different guest who discusses their work and a related Yiddish cultural theme. In the spirit of a club, sessions are held as interactive zoom meetings in which participants can see and hear one another. Each session includes ample time for audience questions, group discussion, and, time permitting, knock-down, drag-out arguments. Attendees need not know any Yiddish to attend, though some familiarity with the language is highly recommended.

This session features Miglė Anušauskaitė, a Judaica researcher and a cartoonist from Lithuania. She has worked in the Judaica Research Center of the National Library of Lithuania for almost 5 years, primarily with Yiddish manuscripts from the interwar period. Apart from her direct responsibilities and participation in the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project, Miglė has worked extensively with texts and translations, from Yiddish and English to Lithuanian. She has translated two non-fiction books from English and an autobiography from Yiddish to Lithuanian and English. She has recently made 3 small comic books about the culture of Ashkenazi Jews. Since her first Yiddish Summer Program in 2017, Miglė has become an avid participant in Yiddish programs, both online and in person. She has made many comics about her experiences in the Yiddish programs, some of which will be shared during the talk.