Sinister Wisdom 119: To Be a Jewish Dyke in the 21st Century

What are Jewish lesbians thinking about? Writing about? Making art about now, here in the first two decades of the 21st Century? Do we see ourselves as Jewish dykes? Jewish lesbians? Genderqueer Jews? How are we thinking about our Jewish lesbian communities and families, natal or invented? How have our relationships to the states of Israel and Palestine changed over time? Can we reconcile the contradictions between our faiths and our politics? Our gender and racial identities? How do we envision our futures and reimagine our pasts, especially in these fractious and dangerous times? One thing is certain. Our commitments to making trouble and speaking up are strong.
This issue of Sinister Wisdom: To Be a Jewish Dyke in the 21st Century, which takes its title from that life-giving stanza in Muriel Rukeyser’s epic poem “letter to the Front”, is a gathering of answers, challenges, and opinions directed at these and other questions.

Featuring work by
Yael Mishali
JEB (Joan E. Biren)
Terry Baum
Joan Larkin
Susan Sherman
Clare Kinberg
Irena Klepfisz
Nancy K Bereano
Penny Rosenwasser
Bonnie Morris
Jyl Lynn Felman
Marla Brettschneider
And more!

See the full-color art Tribute to Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss.

Sinister Wisdom 119 Launch Event Tuesday, 26 January 2021 8 p.m. ET
featuring readings by Elana Dykewomon, Bonnie S. Kaplan, Judith Katz, Irena Klepfisz, R.D. Landau, Dr. Yael Mishali, Ellen Rifkin, Mira Schlosberg, Amy Horowitz, and tova.

Introductory video with artwork from Sinister Wisdom 119: To Be a Jewish Dyke in the Twenty-first Century

The video playing features the artwork from Sinister Wisdom 119: To Be a Jewish Dyke in the 21st Century.
The video was created by Jasmine Jackson. She does do freelance video work. You can learn more about her at
https://vimeo.com/thatonegirljasmine
You can follow her on Instagram @thatonegirl_jasminej
Music in the video is courtesy of Eve Sicular. It is a song called Shpil du Fidl, Shpil, a Yiddish Tango, recorded by Metropolitan Klezmer at The Cutting Room NYC.
You can hear the music at YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMeNfX9uBFc
Drummer, bandleader, composer/arranger and film scholar Eve Sicular leads both Isle of Klezbos sextet (formed 1998) and Metropolitan Klezmer octet (formed 1994).

The full video of the Sinister Wisdom 119 Launch Event

View the video from our January 20, 2021 Hot Talks: In the Moment of Change.

My Tongue Exact: An Erotic Reading & Open Mic with Sinister Wisdom

A Tribute to Irena Klepfisz in conversation with Rachel Levitsky
Tuesday, 23 February 2021

Celebrating the publication of MAGNIFIED with Minnie Bruce Pratt

View the text from the chat here.

Hot Talks: Lesbian and / or Queer in Blackness, March 23, 2021