The Department of History and the Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish Studies Program welcome Corinne Brown to UCCS as the inaugural UCCS SCJS Literary Fellow (2013-2014).
The title of Ms. Browns lecture is: Historical Fiction-The Frontier between Imagination and Reality.
In her presentation, Corinne will explore how historical fact can open the door to writing fiction wherein larger themes can be explored for the reader's benefit. The crypto-Jewish experience has provided this writer a way to meld a European Holocaust family experience with the journey of the crypto-Jews to achieve a greater understanding of the human search for identity.
Questions regarding the event should be directed to Dr. Roger Martinez at (719) 255-4070 or rmartin8@uccs.edu.
About Corinne Brown
Corinne Joy Brown is a Denver-based freelance writer who is a staff writer for four magazines and is the author of four books to date. Two novels published by Five Star (a Cengage Company) and based in the American West, have both been regional best sellers. Her first work, MacGregor's Lantern, is under film option with Sladek Entertainment of Los Angeles. Her most recent work (non-fiction) is an archive of a specific genre of American popular-culture.
Raised in Denver and the daughter of Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust, Corinne has long been interested in issues of identity and free will. She holds degrees from Boston University and the Interior Design Institute in Art Education and Interior Design. Corinne is a member of Western Writer's of America and the Denver Woman's Press Club where she served as president from June 2012 to June 2013. She has been working on a history of the modern day world of the Crypto Jews of New Mexico and their hidden past for over a decade. That manuscript is currently under consideration by Tor Forge Books, a division of MacMillan Publishing.
Corinne also served as the art director of the Denver Jewish Community Center from 1972-1976. She later served as the volunteer chair of the Mizel Museum of Judaica from 1984 to 1990. A frequent visitor to New Mexico, her writing research has taken her to Portugal and beyond for her story. She believes the Crypto Jewish experience holds meaning for members of any faith, and anyone on the road to self-realization.
About the SCJS Program
The Sephardic and Crypto-Judaic Studies Program (SCJS Program) is a formal, scholarly affiliation of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and theSociety for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS). Established on January 1, 2013, the program aims to foster collaborative scholarly research on Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish and Latino-descent) and crypto-Jews (Sephardic Jews that retained their faith in secret) in the greater Southwest United States and the world.
The affiliation aims to promote greater interdisciplinary work among the UCCS faculty and student body, the SCJS, the community of southern Colorado, international scholars, and members of the Sephardic community. Additionally, the affiliation seeks to engage Latino students and community members into a vigorous discussion of related issues of culture, religion, and identity. It will be first university-based program in the United States that fosters the integration of university scholars and students, community members, and an international association for the purposes of studying, discussing, and disseminating information on this cultural-religious phenomenon.
During calendar years 2013 through 2015, the SCJS Program seeks to establish a specialized academic curriculum that explores historical and contemporary issues relating to the Sephardic Jewry and crypto-Jews.
More information is available at: http://www.uccs.edu/history/undergraduate/sephardic-and-crypto-jewish-studies-program.html
