She’s an iconic Jewish storyteller. She’s a widely acclaimed professor and folklorist. She’s the one and only Peninnah Schram, and Peninnah’s World: A Jewish Life in Stories is her authorized biography, told through individual stories.
What is a biography told through stories? Because Schram’s art form is storytelling, Peninnah’s World dramatizes in vivid scenes her extraordinary trajectory from the New London, Connecticut-born child of immigrant parents steeped in Jewish tradition in the 1930s and ‘40s to award-winning, New York-based performer, writer and scholar. The book features landmarks such as the old Mohican Hotel in New London and Stern College for Women in Manhattan. Along the way, Schram enjoys close encounters with such luminaries as Noble Laureates Elie Wiesel and Isaac Bashevis Singer, as well as famed Yiddish-theater actress Molly Picon, actor Jeff Goldblum, singer/ethnomusicologist Ruth Rubin and others.
Written by storytelling studies professor and performer Caren Schnur Neile, the stories are in a form tailor-made to enjoy and share aloud. At the same time, theyserve as models for all those interested in creating their own life and family stories, whatever their background, whether on the page, on the stage, or among neighbors and loved ones.
Welcome to Peninnah’s World. Prepare to explore your own.