Primo Levi at 100

“ I’ve always thought that bridges are the most beautiful work there is…” —Primo Levi

In 1947, just three years after he had been liberated from Auschwitz, Primo Levi published If This Is a Man, an unsparing account of his eleven months of internment in the death camp. The book had at first faced difficulty finding a publisher. Yet ten years later, when it was re-published, his first-hand account of survival was embraced by an international audience. Through the years, it was translated in over forty languages.

From the afternoon into the evening, one hundred years after Levi was born in Turin,  readers will gather at The New York Public Library for a full-length recitation of If This Is a Man. Readers will alternate from English to many of the languages in which the book was translated.

REGISTER HERE
We anticipate the reading to last approximately eight hours. Please feel free to register for one, two, or all three sections of the event.

FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED
For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. Non-registered guests will be admitted to the venue throughout the day, space permitting.

Readers will include among others:

Stella Levi, Italian, Waleed Alhariri  Arabic, So Hyun Bae Korean, Sam Norich English, Debora Balardini Portuguese, Azra Raza English, Clémence Bouloque French, Erin Mizrahi English, Parul Sehgal English, Fatma Bucak Turkish,  Heli Sirviö Finnish, Yuriy Tarnawsky Ukrainian, Magda Teter Polish, Roger Cohen English, Jordi Torrent Catalan, Jonathan Galassi English, Alma Guillermoprieto Spanish, Kirmen Uribe Basque, Amir Vahab Farsi, Frank Hentschter German, Lara Vapnyar Russian, Vít Hořejš Czech, Sherrilyn Ifill English, Aleksandra Wagner Serbo-Croatian, Revital Iyov Hebrew, Michael Frank English, Elidor Mëhilli Albanian, Nicole Krauss English, Bob Weil English, Kitaura Momoyo Japanese, Jeanne Marie Wasilik English, Loukas Skipitaris Greek, Liselot van der Heijden Dutch, Mark Shapiro English.

The program is held under the auspice of the Comitato per le Celebrazioni del Centenario di Primo Levi. We thank all of the institutions that helped collect the multilanguage text:

The annual Joy Gottesman Ungerleider Lecture has been made possible by a generous grant from the Dorot Foundation. The program is held under the auspices of the Italian Committee for Primo Levi’s Centenary. We thank all institutions that helped collecting the translations used for the reading: Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi, Turin, Gjovalin Rakaj, Agra Publications, Editura Art, Romanian Cultural Institute, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Leo Baeck Institute, Aladdin Project, Gummerus Publishers, Grup 62, W.W. Norton, New York Public Library, California State Library, Queens Library.