“Zeek: Russified Downtown Release Party” at KGB Bar

ZEEK bookreading at KGB bar

I ventured to the East Village today (KGB bar to be exact) to attend the NY event for the Spring/Summer 2008 issue Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture. The journal has devoted a special print issue to the persevering Russian Jewish Diaspora.

Readers were Val Vinokur, Matvei Yankelevich, Margarita Shalina (pictured above), David Stromberg and someone whose name I didn’t catch.

It was my first exposure to Zeek and I was impressed by the quality of the publication (excluding the art), but more so by their website (check it out here). The poetry was diverse and rich (often funny), while Margarita’s short essay on visiting Auschwitz was jarring for its grim historical details interspersed with sprawling personal narrative.

Now my only question is, “why do most literary journals have crappy art among the literary gems?”

Btw, I have an extra copy of Zeek for the first person to leave a comment or email me…and yes, I’ll pay for postage.

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