New Books Network

Avrom Sutzkever: Ten Poems

Apr 10, 2026
Justin Cammy, a Yiddish scholar and literary historian; Lara Lempert, curator who conserved the Vilna manuscripts; Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, translator and Lithuania’s culture minister. They discuss the 2017 discovery of Sutzkever’s Ten Poems manuscript. Short readings and translations appear. Conversations cover conservation, manuscript materiality, translation challenges, and the project’s collaborative, cross-cultural significance.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
ANECDOTE

Reading the Miracle Manuscript

  • Mindaugas Kvietkauskas recited Sutzkever's ghetto poem and described the manuscript as a miracle rescued from the Vilna Ghetto.
  • He read the poem in Yiddish, David Fishman's English translation, and his Lithuanian translation, emphasizing the manuscript's original spelling and emotional power.
INSIGHT

The Manuscript Is An Intentional Ghetto Book

  • The discovered notebook is a deliberately arranged 10-poem collection made in the Vilna Ghetto, not merely drafts or loose pages.
  • Mindaugas notes all ten poems are dialogic (dedications, prayers) forming a poetic concept of resistance and preserved audience intent.
ANECDOTE

Finding Sutzkever In The Last Box

  • Lara Lempert recounts the 2017 discovery: opening one last box unexpectedly revealed Sutzkever's Vilna Ghetto poetry amid 120,000 pages of Jewish documents.
  • She describes immediate collaboration with YIVO and David Fishman to preserve and share the trove.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app