Author/blogger Annette Gendler to speak on Jewish family history

“Filling in the Blanks on My Jewish Family History” is the topic of a talk planned by author and blogger Annette Gendler for the Sunday, March 11, 2018, meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. Her presentation will begin at 2 p.m. at Temple Beth-El, 3610 Dundee Road, Northbrook, Ill.

Registration, networking, and the JGSI research library and genealogy help desk will open at 12:30 p.m. For more information, see https://jgsi.org/event-2773602 or phone 312-666-0100.

Annette Gendler is a writer, photographer and blogger. She writes literary nonfiction and focuses on photography of place. In 2014-15, she served as writer-in-residence at the Hemingway Birthplace Home in Oak Park, Ill. Her website is at www.annettegendler.com.

Her memoir, “Jumping Over Shadows,” the story of a German-Jewish love that overcame the baggage of the past, has been published by She Writes Press. One essay excerpted from the manuscript, “‘Thrown Out’ of the Family Home,” was published in the Wall Street Journal; another, “Giving Up Christmas,” was published in Tablet Magazine.

She will be selling her book, “Jumping Over Shadows,” at the March 11 JGSI meeting.

Gendler’s essays have appeared in many literary journals. She regularly writes for the Washington Independent Review of Books and the Jewish Book Council. Her photography has been featured in Bella Grace Magazine and Artful Blogging.

She has an MFA in creative writing from Queens University of Charlotte, N.C. After 15 years of working in consulting, she left the corporate world a few years ago.

Gendler has been giving talks at Chicagoland synagogues on “Becoming a Jew in Post-WWII Germany” and also has been giving a series of workshops on “Shaping Family History into Compelling Stories” at the American Writers Museum as well as at WriteSpace Jerusalem. She have been teaching memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago for ten years, and in her day job she does communications work for Akiba-Schechter Jewish Day School.

At each regular JGSI monthly meeting, a genealogy “help desk” will operate from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Member volunteers will access online databases and answer genealogical questions one-on-one for members and visitors as time allows.

The JGSI library has more than 800 volumes of interest to Jewish family historians. Many are available for borrowing by JGSI members for a limited time. All are available for perusing from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. at each regular monthly meeting.