"Liliane Atlan (1932-2011) was a postwar French Jewish writer whose plays, poetry, and prose narratives display innovative literary and oral forms. Winner of international prizes for her theatrical work Small Bibles for Bad Times introduces, in a bilingual edition, a large body of Atlan's poetry for the first time in English. Thematically Atlan draws upon personal memories - she survived the Holocaust in hiding - as well as testimonials of Holocaust survivors, investigation of historical archives, and Jewish literature. Her work is steeped in the Torah, Talmud, mystical texts, and Jewish history; at the same time, it is inflected with undertones of Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish. While identified as a "Jewish writer," Atlan was also an originator of l'écriture féminine, as well as a pioneering theater artist. Living for several years in Israel, she made street theater with Palestinian artists, using improvisation and performance as a way to bridge Jewish and Arab cultures. The prose excerpt from her memoir gives glimpses into those problematic efforts. Atlan also lived in the U.S. for several years, teaching in San Francisco and then as writer in residence at the University of Iowa. She later returned to Israel, where her children and grandchildren live - until her death, Atlan was active in Israeli-Palestinian peace and cultural initiatives"-- Provided by publisher
