On September 18th, listeners in the library’s Robinson Reading Room had the pleasure of hearing Michael Blumenthal read his work. For the first time, Blumenthal read a short story from his new collection, The Greatest Jewish-American Lover in Hungarian History: Stories. The story, told in alternating perspectives between the two principal characters, described the relationship between a professor and a student as they navigate the complex nuances of mentorship. Thank you, Michael Blumenthal!

Michael Blumenthal, the former Director of Creative Writing at Harvard and a graduate of the Cornell Law School, has three new books coming out this year: Just Three Minutes, Please: Thinking Out Loud on Public Radio (WVU Press); “Because They Needed Me”: The Incredible Struggle of Rita Miljo to Save the Baboons of South Africa (Pleasure Boat Studios); and The Greatest Jewish-American Lover in Hungarian History: Stories (Etruscan Press). He is also the author of the memoir All My Mothers and Fathers; a collection of essays from Central Europe, When History Enters the House; and the novel Weinstock Among the Dying, which won Hadassah Magazine’s Harold U. Ribelow Prize for the best work of Jewish fiction. Currently, he is Co-Director of the Immigration Clinic at The West Virginia University College of Law.