Yiddish Children’s Literature and Jewish Modernity: A Conversation with Miriam Udel

Yiddish Children’s Literature and Jewish Modernity: A Conversation with Miriam Udel

From New Books in Children's Literature by New Books Network

April 6, 2026 · 58 min

About this episode

This episode explores the significance of Yiddish children's literature in shaping and reflecting the modern Jewish experience.

Scholars are only beginning to consider the corpus of nearly one thousand extant books, as well as several periodicals, that constitute the Yiddish children’s literature of the 20th century. However, this body of work was important in both shaping and reflecting key aspects of the modern Jewish experience. We will explore what it means to limn the contours of a canon of Yiddish kidlit and discuss the unique vantage point that studying children’s literature and culture affords with respect to the rest of modern Jewish civilization. This lecture originally took place on July 2, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Guest: Miriam Udel

Topics covered

  • Yiddish literature
  • children's literature
  • Jewish modernity
  • cultural reflection
  • literary canon

Keywords

  • Yiddish
  • children's literature
  • Jewish experience
  • modernity
  • literary canon

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Yiddish children’s literature

More episodes of New Books in Children's Literature

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the New Books in Children's Literature podcast page.