Dimensions
131 x 199 x 16mm
After the Germans invaded Poland, Jacob G. Rosenberg was confined with his family in the Lodz Ghetto until they were sent to Auschwitz. All the members of his family (except himself and his sister who committed suicide a few days later) were gassed to death on the day of their arrival. In May 1945 he was liberated and met his future wife, Esther Laufer. They emigrated to Australia in 1948 and had one son.
A writer for most of his life, Jacob became a regular contributor to Yiddish journals in Australia and abroad, eventually publishing three volumes of prose and poetry. However, aware that readership of his mother tongue was dwindling, he decided to switch to English. This marked the start of an explosion of creative energy. Three collections of poetry were followed by a book of short fiction, Lives and Embers, the memoirs East of Time and Sunrise West, and (posthumously) a novel, The Hollow Tree. He died in Melbourne on 30 October 2008.
In this new anthology, a dozen of Australia's best writers come together to celebrate this remarkable man's life and work. Editors Raimond Gaita, Alex Miller and Alex Skovron have collected brilliant, original new pieces by Helen Garner, Arnold Zable, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Morag Fraser and countless others which examine and pay tribute to an extraordinary life and a late-blooming creativity that was as heroic as it was humble.
