Join us for the next in our series of participatory events celebrating the world’s oral tradition and rich cultural heritages. Including guitar, percussion and bilingual songs.
*Ideal for children ages 4-8, but all are welcome!

Nina Jaffe will tell the story of The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth from Puerto Rico, an enchanting picture book that recreates the indigenous legend of how Puerto Rico became an island. Jaffe’s acclaimed retelling of an indigenous creation myth has also been published in Spanish: La Flor de Oro: Un Mito Taino de Puerto Rico.

A joyful creation myth about the evolution of a beautiful island habitat, this picture book is also a celebration of the young boy’s quest, which encourages young readers, ages 4-8, to respect the gifts of the winds and the cycle of nature that bears fruit for the whole community. Jaffe’s adaptation was inspired by her encounter with a Spanish-language article by Carmen Puigdollers, “Cómo se formó la bella isla de Boriquén,” and folklore research in Puerto Rico.

Nina Jaffe is an award-winning author, folklorist and storyteller who is on the graduate faculty at Bank Street College of Education. Her acclaimed retellings of world folklore include The Way Meat Loves Salt: A Cinderella Tale from the Jewish Tradition and Patakín: World Tales of Drums and Drummers.

Americans are looking to reevaluate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They’re looking for new voices. Palestine Inside Out is not essentially a book of argument, though argument is inherent in the facts it sets forth. Nor is it focused on the military aspects of the conflict, on the suicide bombers and the bulldozers, the things that make good television. Rather it is an “inside-out” primer about the facts of everyday Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. It is about “death by bureaucracy.” Everyone who has ever been to Israel knows that this is in fact the dominant reality of the conflict. Palestine Inside Out explains why the “peace process” failed. It explains why Hamas won in Gaza, and has been growing in power in the West Bank. It explains why Yasir Arafat walked away from the deal at Camp David that was lauded, incorrectly, in the US media for offering him 90% of the West Bank for a Palestinian state. This book is distinctive in that it comes from an Arab voice, something conspicuously absent from most of the debate about the conflict in the US media.

Saree Makdisi is a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA. He is a frequent op-ed essayist for the Los Angeles Times and other publications, and speaks on Middle East affairs on NPR, PBS and in public lectures around the world. He lives in Los Angeles, California.