[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 25, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





            HONORING THE CAREER OF LORE SEGAL NEE GROSZMANN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 25, 2019

  Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the illustrious 
55-year career of acclaimed writer and Upper West Side resident Lore 
Segal nee Groszmann.
   Lore Segal was born to a Jewish middle-class family in Vienna, 
Austria in 1928. Shortly after Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938, 
she participated in the first wave of the Kindertransport which brought 
thousands of children to safety in England. It was here she first began 
writing: Segal penned impassioned letters to refugee committees and 
potential sponsors advocating for her parents to be brought to England, 
ultimately resulting in her parents' arrival a year later with domestic 
laborers' visas. Although this effort reunited her family, her parents' 
roles as domestic laborers required Segal to live with foster families 
until she was eighteen. After earning her degree in English Literature 
from the University of London, Segal spent three years in the Dominican 
Republic, finally making her way to New York with her mother in 1951.
   Segal's writing career began in earnest when she began chronicling 
her experiences as a young emigre living with different families in 
England in series of articles in The New Yorker, which later formed the 
basis of her first novel, Other People's Houses, published in 1964. 
Segal's other works include five novels, including Shakespeare's 
Kitchen (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2008), eight 
children's books including Tell Me a Mitzi, translations such as The 
Juniper Tree, an adaptation of Grimm tales on which she collaborated 
with her friend Maurice Sendak, and innumerable short stories and 
essays. Lore Segal's most recent book is the 2019 collection of 
published and unpublished works entitled, The Journal I Did Not Keep: 
New and Selected Writing. Segal taught writing for almost thirty years 
at notable institutions, including as a tenured professor at University 
of Illinois at Chicago and Ohio State University, as well as Columbia 
University, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence and the 92 Y. She has also been 
recognized for her work with numerous awards and honors including a 
Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants and O. 
Henry awards.
   What makes Segal's writing so enduring is the masterful way she 
balances the themes of displacement and otherness, central to her 
identities as a refugee and a foster child, with the emotions, humor 
and conflicts inherent to the universal human condition. Her work 
provides a unique insight into the immigrant perspective on the 
American Dream and the Jewish diaspora. Segal's contributions to the 
diverse community of immigrant voices who illustrate the complexities 
and vibrancy of American life are well-deserving of tribute.
   Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in celebrating the 
55th Anniversary of Lore Segal's first publication, and in recognizing 
the amazing achievements and continued impact of her work.

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