Library grant funds literature series

OCEAN TOWNSHIP - The township branch of the Monmouth County Library is one of six New Jersey libraries to be awarded a $2,500 Let's Talk About It: Jewish Literature - Identity and Imagination grant.

Nextbook Inc., a gateway to Jewish literature, culture and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office provide funding for programs to support this scholar-led, theme-based reading and discussion series that explores the best in contemporary and classic Jewish literature.

The grant will fund Ocean Township Library's five-part series "Your Heart's Desire: Sex and Love in Jewish Literature." In these works of modern fiction, love and desire cross paths in the math department, on the analyst's couch, in an Israeli garage - and often with surprising results.

The series features "Portnoy's Complaint" by Philip Roth on June 18, "The Little Disturbances of Man" by Grace Paley on July 16, "A Simple Story" by S.Y. Agnon on Aug. 20, "The Lover" by A. B. Yehoshua on Sept. 17 and "The Mind-Body Problem" by Rebecca Goldstein on Oct. 15.

Dr. Nelly Segal, who holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature from New York University and is a member of the board of directors of the Center for Holocaust Studies at Brookdale Community College, will moderate the discussions. She has worked with and translated works by S.Y. Agnon and A.B. Yehoshua, two of the series' authors, and has moderated Literature of World Language: A Public Forum for Multi-Lingual Book Discussions at Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan.

Ocean Township Librarian Judith Boim, an active member of the local Jewish religious and educational community, is the project director. Ocean Township Hadassah is the library's community partner.

The programs in the series are free and open to the public. Copies of the books may be borrowed from any Monmouth County Library. For more information, call (732) 531-5092. The Ocean Township library is located at 701 Deal Road.