Two historians find letters written by a blind rabbi 300 years ago in Shakespeare’s plague-ridden London. As they pursue their research, they discover something even more unusual: the rabbi’s scribe was a woman. The Weight of Ink draws us into the life of Ester Velasquez, an émigré from Amsterdam, in 17^th century London.

Known for her award-winning novels, Tolstoy Lied and From a Sealed Room, Rachel Kadish is a National Endowment for the Arts fiction fellow and visiting scholar at the Brandeis-Bardin Women’s Study Research Center. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, the New York Times, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. 

Lynn Zeller Memorial Event

Dessert reception | No charge | RSVP not required but appreciated