La Maison Française of New York University, located at 16 Washington Mews (at University Place), will host two lectures by noted French writer and human rights activist Marek Halter. Both lectures are offered as part of the Florence Gould Lecture Series of the Center for French Civilization and Culture of NYU and are free and open to the public. For further information call 212.998.8750.
The two upcoming lectures by Mark Halter at New York University’s Maison Française represent two aspects of his career.
The first (in French), on Monday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m., concerns the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust; it is entitled “La Shoah, comment preserver la mémoire?”
The second, on Tuesday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m, based on Halter’s forthcoming historical novel, Zipporah, Wife of Moses, will be given in English and is titled “And Woman Created God — Moses’ Black Wife.” He will speak about Zipporah, a black Cushite woman who changed the destiny of both the prophet and the people.
Halter was born in Poland in 1936. During World War II, he and his parents narrowly escaped from the Warsaw ghetto. After a time in Russia and Uzbekistan, they emigrated to France in 1950. There Halter studied pantomime with Marcel Marceau and embarked on a career as a painter that led to several international exhibitions. In 1967, he founded the International Committee for a Negotiated Peace Agreement in the Near East and played a crucial role in the organization of the first official meetings between Palestinians and Israelis. He is a regular contributor to several international newspapers, including Die Welt and Repubblica.
In the 1970’s, Halter turned to writing. He first published The Madman and the Kings, which was awarded the Prix Aujourd’hui in 1976. He is also the author of several internationally acclaimed, bestselling historical novels, including The Messiah, The Mysteries of Jerusalem, and The Book of Abraham, which won the Prix du Livre Inter.