Rachel Lichtenstein Involved in Two Events in London

Rachel Lichtenstein is Reader in English at Manchester Metropolitan University

Secret Rivers: tales of the waters

The third in a series of four talks exploring different aspects of London's rivers

Join Totally Thames Festival Director Adrian Evans in this talk exploring the stories of the river in London. Author and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair will be joined by artist and author Rachel Lichtenstein and poet Rachel Nwokoro, to explore the theme of boundaries and the river, through art, culture and politics. The talk will be followed by an hour's private view of the Secret Rivers exhibition.

Book your ticket and find out more here

Vanished Streets: 1970s photographs by Shloimy Alman of Jewish East London

In 1977 a young youth worker from Manchester called Shloimy Alman visited East London for the first time and met with the legendary Yiddish poet Avram Stencl who guided him around the streets. Fascinated by the vibrant Jewish life he saw there, Shloimy wandered around the area both with Stencl and alone repeatedly over the following two years, documenting local characters, markets, businesses and Jewish institutions. His collection of over three hundred colour slides taken during this period now remains as a unique record of a disappeared world.

Come and visit London’s oldest surviving and still functioning Ashkenazi synagogue Sandys Row on Sunday October 6th2019 as part of the European Day of Jewish Culture to view an exhibition of these incredible images for the very first time. At 1pm and 4pm well-known author and Sandys Row historian Rachel Lichtenstein will be giving an illustrated talk on the story of this collection and the wider Jewish East End. Framed prints will be available to purchase along with a full colour exhibition catalogue, various books and postcards on the Jewish East End and Kosher refreshments.

Book your ticket and find out more here

Rachel Lichtenstein

Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, author and curator with an international reputation for writing books, collaborating on multi-media projects and creating artworks that examine place, and explore themes of memory and identity. She currently combines writing and research with a part-time post as a Reader at Manchester Metropolitan University alongside working as an archivist and historian at London’s oldest Ashkenazi synagogue Sandys Row. Rachel's latest creative project involves deep research into Jewish settlement in East London and the Caribbean. Although Rachel is probably best known for her books she originally trained as a sculptor, which gave her a unique way of looking at the world. Rachel uses many of the methodologies and creative practises she developed during my art training in her writing, which is experimental in its format and often involves collaborations with practioners in other disciplines including film, archaeology, performance, digital technology and historical geography. Alongside writing and making artwork Rachel curates and hosts literary festivals and events, writes articles for newspapers and periodicals. She travels a lot of for research and loves spending time in archives and libraries.