Dr. Jessica Kirzane is a scholar of Yiddish Studies, specializing in questions of race, gender, and regionalism in American Yiddish fiction.
She has translated two Yiddish novels by Miriam Karpilove. Judith was published by Farlag Press in January 2022. Diary of a Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love was published by Syracuse University Press in 2020. Dr. Kirzane’s work to translate Yiddish women writers was recently featured in the The New York Times.
After receiving her Ph.D. in Yiddish studies from Columbia University in 2017, Dr. Kirzane became the Assistant Instructional Professor in Yiddish at the University of Chicago. She teaches all levels of Yiddish language, as well as courses in Yiddish culture and literature.
She also serves the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.
Dr. Kirzane is available for lectures, presentations, one-time classes, freelance translations, and editing work.
Jessica Kirzane 