Yelena Lembersky returns to Beth Israel Congregation to talk about her new memoir, Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour, which she co-authored with her mother, Galina. The book is a prequel to her arrival, as a refugee, to Ann Arbor in 1987 -- the story of growing up in Soviet Russia, while her mother fought for them to emigrate. Our community members may remember the paintings of Yelena’s grandfather, Felix Lembersky, a prominent Jewish artist, whose very first American show was organized by Jewish Community Center in Ann Arbor. Since then, this art appeared in numerous shows and publications across the US and Europe; he is best known for his Execution: Babyn Yar canvases, the earliest known artistic representation of the Jewish massacre near Kyiv during Holocaust.

“Unsparing, with devastating clarity, this extraordinary mother-daughter memoir is like a drop of ink that seeps into every crevice of Soviet life in the 1970s and 1980s.” —ChaeRan Freeze, Brandeis University

“Profoundly powerful and poignant memoir, both significant and stunning.” —Ori Z Soltes,

Georgetown University Yelena Lembersky is a graduate of the University of Michigan and MIT. Her writing appeared in World Literature Today, The Forward, and Cardinal Points Literary Journal, and she was a recent guest on National Public Radio. Her first book, Felix Lembersky: Paintings and Drawings, was published in English and Russian in 2009. When not writing, she works as an architect or plays catch with her dog, Teddy. She lives with her family near Boston.