Jewish Women's Voices
Jewish Women’s Voices at The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing
Jewish Women’s Voices is an initiative set up in collaboration between Dr Kate Kennedy, Director of the ‘Oxford Centre for Life-Writing’, and Dr Vera Fine-Grodzinski, a scholar of Jewish social and cultural history. The Programme is the first of its kind at any UK academic institution.
Formerly known as Writing Jewish Women’s Lives, the Vera Fine-Grodzinski Programme has been renamed Jewish Women’s Voices to reflect its growing scope and vision. Launched in October 2023, the Programme celebrates the life-writing of Jewish women often underrepresented in mainstream history accounts. The Programme is a three-term seminar series dedicated to exploring the diverse experiences of Jewish women across centuries, countries, and cultures.
In its first year, it hosted British scholars, writers, and practitioners, creating a vibrant platform for research, discussion, and creative exploration. It highlights the vital roles Jewish women have played in shaping social and cultural history, celebrating their contributions through interdisciplinary and cross-generational writing and conversations.
Alongside regular seminars, the Programme appoints a ‘Scholar-in Residence’. Jewish Women’s Voices thus continues to provide a platform for national and international scholars to engage in interdisciplinary and cross-generational writing and conversation. By engaging with rich and varied narratives, it celebrates the resilience, creativity, and diversity of Jewish women’s voices.
We invite you to join us for another year of lively, thought-provoking events as we explore and celebrate the stories of Jewish women across time and place.
Register for all our events here.
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What’s in a logo?
The logo for Jewish Women’s Voices incorporates olive and almond branches, symbols rich in meaning drawn from the Torah. The olive branch has long been associated with peace, wisdom, and endurance, while the almond branch represents diligence, awakening, and inspiration across time and place. Together, these symbols embody the Programme’s hopes: to foster creativity, insight, and resilience through writing and scholarship.
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Vera Fine-Grodzinski studied Philosophy and Sociology at the ‘Frankfurt School’ at J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt and Art History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She also holds an MA and a PhD from University College London. Her doctoral dissertation, ‘French Impressionism and German Jews: The Making of Modernist Art Collectors and Art Collections in Imperial Germany’, is a study of a pioneering Jewish art dealer, Paul Cassier, private collectors and public patrons before World War One. Her memoir History, Memory, and Me is awaiting publication later this year.
Fine-Grodzinski is a curator, writer, independent scholar, and lecturer in social and cultural Jewish history. Her articles have been published in academic and cultural journals in the UK and abroad.
- Find and register for the seminars here.
- To stay up to date with the Jewish Women’s Voices seminars, sign up for the OCLW newsletter here.
- Watch recordings of our previous seminars here.
- If you’re interested in presenting your work at a future Jewish Women’s Voices seminar, send an abstract of your proposed paper and your bio to OCLW’s Events Manager, Dr Eleri Watson.
