About the Organizers

Hannan Hever is Blaustein Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at Yale University. He previously taught at the Hebrew University-Jerusalem, where he also served as the chair of The School of Literatures. His main areas of research and teaching are cultural history of Modern Hebrew poetry and prose, the history of critical theory, postcolonial readings of Modern Hebrew literature, and theory of cultural and literary critique; he is now also studying the history of the Hassidic tale. Prof. Hever has edited several important collections of Israeli poetry and fiction, and is the author of many books on Hebrew literature, including most recently Toward the Longed-For Shore: The Sea in Modern Hebrew Culture (Hebrew) (Hakibbutz Hameuchad and the Van Leer Institute, 2007), and With the Power of God: Theology and Politics in Modern Hebrew Literature (Hebrew) (Hakibbutz Hameuchad and the Van Leer Institute 2013).

Masha Shpolberg is a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and Film & Media Studies at Yale. Her research focuses on non-fiction film and social movements in Eastern Europe. She can be reached at masha.shpolberg@yale.edu.

Zelda Roland is a Ph.D. candidate in Film & Media Studies and History of Art at Yale. Her dissertation focuses on people and places in the backgrounds of Classical Hollywood. She can be reached at s.zelda.roland@yale.edu.

Yahel Matalon is a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature at Yale. Her interests include foreign elements in the 19th century novel and questions of Jewish identity around the turn of the century. She can be reached at yahel.matalon@yale.edu.