Michael Dekel in conversation with Salar Abdoh
The paperback launch of
Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey
“Not simply another detail of the Holocaust but a matter of enduring existential, psychological and moral reflection. “
―Jonathan Brent, New York Times Book Review
Thursday, March 31, 2022
6:00 – 70:00 PM
Shepard Hall 350
The City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue New York, NY 10031
Michael Dekel is a Distinguished Professor of English and the 2021-22 Stuart Z. Katz Professor of Humanities at City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. Fort his book, she was named a finalist for the2020 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, the National Jewish Book Award for Writing Based on Archival Material, and the Chautauqua Prize for Contribution to the Literary Arts.
Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by The Estate of Kenneth Kowald Fund for Advancing American Literature and by the LUCE Foundation’s Harlem Archives project. Spotlight is a new series engaging authors, writers and the public in the most pressing conversations of our time, through the lens of literature and the arts.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
Professor Gordon Thompson has a laudable career spanning nearly 24 years of teaching and service at City College, Louisiana State University, and Stanford University. As director of the Black Studies Program, he had a record of administrative leadership, including planning, budgeting for and managing an academic program. As creator, principal investigator, and director of the RAP-SI project of the Black Male Initiative, he demonstrated the ability to successfully organize a staff and build a service-oriented mentoring program. As director of the Langston Hughes Festival Committee, he has been in continuous service to the Committee since 1990. As professor of African American and American literature in the English Department he has demonstrated a strong publication record with scholarly expertise in the area of the African American narrative praxis. Lastly, as a scholar, he has several peer-reviewed publications, is a frequent participant at national and international conferences and is the editor/co-editor of several books.
Emily Raboteau
Dr. Vanessa K. Valdés is the director of the Black Studies Program at The City College of New York-CUNY. A graduate of Yale and Vanderbi
Sydney Valerio believes we are all a living archive of the stories and places our bodies navigate. As a creative, she is fueled by her professional work as an educator and community cultural worker to create spaces and experiences for all parts of the community to engage with and access. 
