Irena Klepfisz

Irena Klepfisz is a poet, Yiddish translator, and teacher of English literature, Yiddish language and literature, and Women’s Studies. She is the author of the poetry collection A Few Words in the Mother Tongue and Dreams of an Insomniac: Jewish Feminist Essays, Speeches, and Diatribes and a recipient of an National Endowment for the Arts grant in poetry. She is a co-editor of The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women’s Anthology and Jewish Women’s Call for Peace: A Handbook for Jewish Women on the Israeli/ Palestinian Conflict. She served for many years as Yiddish editor for Bridges magazine and contributed the introductory essay to Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, the first anthology of women’s Yiddish prose. She has been a long-time activist whose work has addressed, homophobia in the Jewish community, women and peace in the Middle East, and secular Jewish identity. She is Adjunct Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Barnard where she teaches courses on Jewish women and Jewish women’s literature.