Benjamin Fondane & Paul Celan: Literature & Tragedy
- RCI USA
- Jan 21
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 5
Presented on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026
About The Event
On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Romanian Cultural Institute presents a commemorative literary evening dedicated to the lives and works of two towering Jewish writers of Romanian origin whose voices shaped European literature in the aftermath of catastrophe.
Bringing together literature, history, and live performance, the event offers a powerful space for remembrance, reflection, and dialogue. Through scholarly insight, dramatic readings, and audience discussion, the program explores how Benjamin Fondane and Paul Celan transformed personal trauma, exile, and historical rupture into enduring works of ethical and aesthetic urgency.
The evening will open with a keynote address by Dr. Evan Parks (Columbia University), scholar of modern European and Jewish literature, who will contextualize the intellectual and historical landscapes that shaped the authors’ work, with particular attention to memory, displacement, and post-Holocaust poetics.
The program continues with public readings from selected texts by Fondane and Celan, performed by actors Cameron Darwin Bossert and Suzanne Toren. The excerpts, curated by theater director Beate Hein Bennett, highlight the enduring relevance of these writers’ voices in a world still grappling with violence, exile, and the responsibility of memory.
Join us in honoring two essential authors, victims of prejudice and violence, whose works continue to challenge, unsettle, and illuminate our understanding of history and humanity.
Meet the Keynote Speaker
Dr. EVAN PARKS is a scholar of modern European and Jewish literature and Director of Education for The Bronfman Fellowship. His research treats the entanglement of German and Jewish intellectual traditions; his forthcoming book, Missed Encounters: Paul Celan at the Edge of Philosophy, explores tensions between the post-Shoah poet Paul Celan and his philosophical readers, including Hans-Georg Gadamer, Theodor W. Adorno, and Jacques Derrida. As an educator, Evan is interested in the intersection of liberal education and Jewish learning. He has taught at Columbia University’s Department of Germanic Languages, Columbia University’s Core Curriculum, and serves as Faculty for the Bronfman Fellowship. Evan received his Ph.D. in German and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and holds a B.A. in European Cultural Studies from Brandeis University. He was a 2020-21 Fellow with the Leo Baeck Institute London.
Meet the Actors
CAMERON DARWIN BOSSERT is the founder and artistic director of Thirdwing, an innovative streaming service with live events producing stories about history and global politics since 2019, including an acclaimed trilogy about the Disney Studio in the Great Depression, hailed by the New York Times as "Remarkable," and "smart and entertaining." You can check out their work at www.thirdwing.info.
SUZANNE TOREN has performed on and off Broadway, and in regional theatres., in classics and in new plays. She performs in both her native English, and in Yiddish. She is a multi-award-winning narrator of over 1000 audio books, and is the recipient of a "Golden Voice Award", given for major contributions to the art of Audiobook narration.
