Moderated by Yurina Yoshikawa
Wednesday, May 10
7pm
FREE Virtual Event
1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi’s club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz―but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man.
As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.
From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.
About Yurina:
Yurina Yoshikawa holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University and teaches fiction and non-fiction writing at The Porch Writers’ Collective. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, NPR, Lit Hub, The Japan Times, and elsewhere. She was the winner of the 2020 Tennessee True Stories Contest and a 2021 recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission. She has lived in Tokyo, Palo Alto, and New York before settling down in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband and two sons. For more information, visit www.yurinayoshikawa.com.
Writers Workshop with The Porch | Tuesday, May 23, 6-8pm | The Porch House at 2811 Dogwood PL., Nashville, TN 37204
We are so excited to partner with The Porch and API Middle Tennessee for this one-day writing workshop, which will be especially fruitful for those who plan to attend the Nashville Jewish Book Series on Wednesday, May 10 (7-8pm via Zoom) featuring Weina Day Randel, whose novel The Last Rose of Shanghai tells a beautiful story about a Chinese woman and a Jewish man and their relationship in the midst of WWII -- a perfect read for the month of May, which is the heritage month for both Jewish-Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders. In this special one-day class, instructor Yurina Yoshikawa will moderate a discussion around an excerpt from Randel's novel, and guide the students as they create short writing exercises on the theme of multifaceted storytelling. Designed for everyone and writers at all stages, including those who have not read the book.
Tickets: $70 ($63 for Porch Members)
$10 from your registration will go towards the Nashville Jewish Book Series, a program of the Gordon JCC, which aims to connect the local community with authors from around the globe, fostering conversations that could not happen anywhere else in the world.
Register Here
Thank you to our event partners:
The Gordon JCC partners with the Jewish Book Council. 