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We Are Stories

JL;DR SUMMARY In his poignant acceptance speech for the Berman Literature Prize, Jewish Guatemalan writer Eduardo Halfon reflects on the profound impact of tradition and storytelling. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

StorytellingJewish TraditionHolocaustJewish IdentityFamily HistoryHeritageLiteratureEduardo HalfonBerman Literature PrizeGuatemalan Civil War

Places mentioned

Lake Amatitlán, Guatemala, Guatemala
"was a day to read and write and work on my own. An entire day to myself."
Stockholm, Sweden
"This speech was read by the author on October 22nd, 2024, in Stockholm at the Berman Literature Prize Award Ceremony."
Berlin, Germany
"A few months ago, while at work in my home in Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin, I received a phone call from Stockholm."
Wannsee, Berlin, Germany
"A few months ago, while at work in my home in Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin, I received a phone call from Stockholm."
Guatemala
"I mean, how often does a Jewish writer from Guatemala working in Berlin win a Swedish literary prize?"
Łódź, Poland
"He didnt want to talk about those five greenish digits crawling like caterpillars on his left forearm (69752), about how and where hed gotten them, about the death of his two sisters and his younger brother and his parents in Lodz."
Sachsenhausen, Brandenburg, Germany
"Until finally, one rainy afternoon in the late 90s, he sat down on his living room sofa and poured himself a glass of whiskey and started telling me his story, from his capture in Lodz in November of 39 while playing a game of dominoes with his friends, until his liberation from Sachsenhausen in April of 45."

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Retrieved 2025-08-16 05:34:26 UTC
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