Immigrant Tales book discussion to be held at Multicultural Center

The third session of the discussion series,"Immigrant Tales: Then and Now" on Tuesday, March 1 will highlight the cultures of Eastern Europe and Ukraine. Harvey Klevar, Luther College Professor of Anthropology will lead the discussion of The Turk and My Mother by Mary Helen Stefaniak. These tales of a Hungarian and Ukrainian family move across the the 20th century and back and forth across the ocean taking the reader to Hungary, Ukraine, and Milwaukee. Each generation reveals its heritage, struggles, and loves in this moving and humorous novel.
The author resides in Iowa City and teaches at Creighton University. She wrote about the book, "I've been fascinated by my father's family history at least since 5th grade, when I wrote a story about my grandmother and her five-year-old daughter traveling from their village to Ellis Island on their way to join my grandfather in Milwaukee. Many years later, my father took me on a tour of the old neighborhood on East Bay Street, where I, too, lived, at least as a very small child, in my grandmother's upper flat. But my father wasn't my only family source. His sister Madeline also liked to tell stories and she was kind enough to let me tape record her. So this novel has its roots in a few events that really happened and some characters who really existed, but it goes on to invent most of my family history."
Professor Klevar has led many reading/discussion groups at various libraries as part of an Humanities Iowa program. He is currently a board member for Humanities Iowa. This is the final book discussion in the series sponsored by the Postville Diversity Council and NICC. The discussions are open to those who have read the book or who are interested in hearing the discussion. The discussion begins at 7:00pm in the Multicultural Center and cocoa and cookies are served.
For further information, contact NICC at 800 728 2256 ext 399.