4–6 October 2026 | University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
In celebration of the quincentenary of the first Yiddish printing (the 1526/7 Agode of Gershom ben Salomon Kohen of Prague), please join us at the University of Oxford on the 4th–6th of October for a symposium on Yiddish printing, broadly defined.
Papers and workshops will be on the topics of Yiddish printing (letterpress & otherwise), book & publishing history, type design & production, printed images, orthography & linguistics of the printed word, &c. Other topics are included as they relate to Yiddish printing history and practice.
Inquiries may be submitted to Giovanna Truong.
Symposium Registration
***Please register as a participant or presenter/workshop leader here.***
The symposium will be running online and in-person. Please register above and indicate your attendance type.
Symposium Programme
Sunday 4 October
09.00–14.00 | Arrival/Orientation/Lunch
14.00–14.30 | Introductory Remarks
14.30–15.00 | Break
15.00–16.30 | Panel I: The Contemporary Practice of Yiddish Printing
- Seth Gottlieb, “Casting Lots (of Type): Type Production for Yiddish Letterpress Printing Today”
- Frank Baseman, “The Quest for Hebrew (Wood) Type”
- Tyler Kliem and Raizel Bromberg, “Os: A Digital Yiddish Type Foundry and Design Magazine”
Monday 5 October
09.00–10.30 | Panel II: Histories of Yiddish Printing in the 20th Century
- Victoria Gerasimova, “Yiddish Periodicals on the Polish Cultural Map (1867–1918): Spatial and Quantitative Analysis”
- Julie Beuschel Mikkelsen, “Searching for loved ones: Letters for missing relatives published in Dos Vokhen Blat, 1919–1921”
- Rachelle Grossman, “Yiddish Printing in Postwar Poland”
10.30–11.00 | Break
11.00–12.30 | Panel III: The Art and Craft of Yiddish Printing in the 20th Century
- Caleb Sher, “‘A Letter After a Letter’: The Histories of Jewish Typesetters, in Their Own Words”
- Etai Rogers-Fett, “Tsu shafn a nayem vort, IKRES: Printing and Self-Publishing in The Jewish Consumptive Relief Society”
12.30–14.00 | Lunch Break
14.00–15.30 | Workshop I: Yiddish Song with Diana Matut and Lutenist Matthew Spring
15.30–16.00 | Break
16.00–17.30 | Panel IV: Materials and Layout in Yiddish Printing
- Nikki Halpern, “Materializing Memory in Yizker (Memorial) Books”
- Jordan Lee Schnee, “Grotesque Urbanity: Debora Vogel’s Forays into Concrete Poetry”
- Timothy Powell, “Printing Yiddish in the GDR: Es brennt, Brüder, es brennt (1965)”
Tuesday 6 October
09.00–10.30 | Panel V: Pasts and Futures
- Nora Cornell, “Portable Personal Prayers: Studying Tkhines through a Material Lens”
- Yehuda Miklaf, Remarks on his print of “Di blayene platn fun Roms drukeray” by Avrom Sutzkever
10.30–11.00 | Break
11.00–12.30 | Rare Book Viewing at the Weston Library
12.30–14.00 | Lunch Break
14.00–16.00 | Print Workshop at the Bodleian Bibliographical Press
16.00–16.30 | Break
16.30–17.00 | Concluding Remarks