Yuri Kruman’s BluePrint Fellowship is a book of short stories about Russian Jews who grew up as kids in New York and have become urbane American adults.
Summary: Twenty-five years after their hellish emigration – thirty from their famous father’s exodus – a sister and her brothers hear his voice again. All three have long since “made it” in the States, despite – maybe, because of – his abandonment. Forced by his own divorce to question everything, Vlad reels and frolics to forget himself – and learn to live again. Skirt-chasing author Mark, seething with writer’s block, commits himself to marry by a verbal slip. Alla’s precocious children prod her to examine who she is and why. A sleazy cousin – Tolik, hopeless Brighton product – is about to score his one big hit, again. His brother, Boris, now religious, struggles to transcend his past. A family get-together threatens to ignite their old resentments. Edouard Yablonskiy, freshly minted dissident, has one last chance to make amends. His three grown children now must choose – to exit their own Egypt and forgive or let the past demand their satisfaction.
Yuri Kruman’s persona page: http://www.YuriKruman.com
It’s available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Egypt-In-Looking-Glass/dp/149184776X.
Hellish emigration
Yuri’s interviews spanned the experiences of Russian Jews living in New York in their countries of origin, the intellectual and social teachings of parents and grandparents, college life, personal relationships, the experiences of living and surviving in a big city as college-educated adults, and relationships with various forms of Judaism as compared to those of their parents.
Project implemented since Blueprint: http://www.askgemach.org/
Fellows
Yuri Kruman The Egypt In My Looking Glass: A Novella Yuri Kruman is an American entrepreneur, author and blogger based in New York. Yuri has published two books of fiction, including a novel, “Returns and Exchanges” (2013, Author House) and novella, “The Egypt In My Looking Glass” (2014, Author House). He has made appearances at the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, JCC of Manhattan Salon Series, Russian American Cultural Center and Roger Smith Hotel Creative Program. He is a recipient of the UJA Shapiro Family and COJECO BluePrint Fellowships (2012-2013) and is also a member of the Asylum Arts International Jewish Artist community and the Jewish Book Council.
