Deborah Tannen – Finding My Father: His Century-Long Journey from WWI Warsaw—and My Quest To Follow
Deborah Tannen in conversation on her latest book – “Finding My Father: His Century-Long Journey from WWI Warsaw—and My Quest To Follow”
The Georgetown University Library will host a conversation between Georgetown Linguistics Professor Deborah Tannen and Maureen Corrigan, Georgetown’s Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism, about Tannen’s new book, Finding My Father: His Century-Long Journey from WWI Warsaw—and My Quest to Follow.
In her memoir, Tannen embarks on a poignant, yet perilous, quest to piece together the puzzle of her father’s life. Beginning with his astonishingly vivid memories of the Hasidic community in Warsaw, where he was born in 1908, she traces his journey: from arriving in New York City in 1920 to quitting high school at fourteen to support his mother and sister, through a vast array of jobs, including prison guard and gun-toting alcohol tax inspector, to eventually establishing the largest workers’ compensation law practice in New York and running for Congress. As Tannen comes to better understand her father’s—and her own—relationship to Judaism, she uncovers aspects of his life she would never have imagined.
Attendees of this event will also receive 10% off the purchase of this book from Politics & Prose Bookstore – register to receive the special code and order your copy today!
Deborah Tannen, a member of the Linguistics Department faculty at Georgetown, holds the distinguished rank of University Professor. She has written, edited, or co-edited 26 books, including You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, which was on the New York Times best seller list for nearly four years, and has been translated into 31 languages. In addition to her linguistic research and writing, she has published numerous poems, short stories, and personal essays.
Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air, is the Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University. In 2019, Corrigan was awarded the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing by the National Book Critics Circle. Corrigan’s literary memoir, Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading! was published in 2005. Corrigan is also a reviewer and columnist for The Washington Post’s Book World.