I’ve posted before about Abramek Kioplowicz’s poetry, how he wrote his poems as a 14-year-old Jewish boy imprisoned in the Polish ghetto of Lodz, and how Abramek was taken to Auschwitz and killed by the Germans. And I’ve highlighted Kelly Houle’s beautiful new art book in which five of Abramek’s poems were translated from Polish into English by my friends Sarah Lawson and Malgorzata Koraszewska, and then illustrated and put into a gorgeous printed volume designed and produced by Kelly (her husband Ken helped with the printing). You can buy this book here, alone or with a print. I have two copies (one for donation to a library), and it is really something to have. It’s also ineffably moving.
On January 29 of this year, two days after Holocaust Remembrance Day, Kelly gave a 45-minute talk at her alma mater Arizona State University, describing Abramek’s story and how the book came to be. It’s a lovely talk, and many times Kelly comes close to tears as she tells the story (I did, too, as did the moderator Katherine Krzys at the end). There are photographs of Abramek, of the ghetto, and of the book, and at the end there’s a treat: a Polish speaker reads Abramek’s poem “A Dream” in the original Polish, so you can see how it rhymed; then Kelly reads it in English.
If you want to skip the introduction, Kelly’s talk begins at 9:49, but I’d recommend watching all 53 minutes if you have time.
I watched the whole thing. A nice little presentation. Thanks for the post.
Thank you. That got me good & proper.
Beautiful speech. I found the last 10 minutes especially, brought me to tears.