By Jeffrey Catalano
Assistant Editor
On Wednesday, September 17, between 7 and 8 p.m., the Mayerson JCC will be hosting a new entry in its Jewish Book Series, this time covering Jordan Salama’s novel, “Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story.”
Salma’s book is inspired by family lore and tells the story of a young writer who embarks on a quest through the Argentine Andes in search of a heritage that spans hemispheres and centuries, from the Jewish Levant to turn-of-the-century trade routes in South America.
The novel was, in no small part, influenced by a chance discovery Salama made one Thanksgiving. During this particularly fateful holiday celebration, Salama discovered a huge binder filled with old papers and photos, which charted a 500 year wandering history of his Arab-Jewish family, from Moorish Spain to Ottoman Syria to Argentina and beyond.
“Stranger” is a unique book in the way it combines travelog, history, memoir and reportage. With Salama’s deft descriptions of various different locations across the world, it promises to be a vivid read.
Salama’s writing usually covers culture and the environment in the Americas. His essays and stories have appeared in “National Geographic” and “New York Magazine,” among other publications. Salama is of Argentine, Syrian and Iraqi Jewish descent. He is the author of “Every Day the River Changes” and a graduate of Princeton.
