I had the huge pleasure of doing an event at the Jewish Museum in New York City last week, following two days of festivities and a panel for the Jewish National Book Awards (Kantika received the award for Sephardic Culture). Titled “Wandering Jews: Two Diasporic Journeys Out of the Ottoman Empire,” the 4/28/24 event was part of the “Unpacking the Book Series,” moderated by Unorthodox podcast host Stephanie Butnick, who asked such thoughtful questions. We were in conversation with Jordon Salama, whose second book (and he’s only twenty-seven!), Stranger in the Desert, is a moving, layered exploration of his journey through the Argentine Andes as he explored his family’s Syrian and Argentinian roots. The book is full of surprises, and Jordon was a wonderful conversation partner. We found many echoes between our family’s stories: multilingualism, a fluid sense of home, the importance of stories in diaspora, little known corners of Jewish identity and history, interviewing our grandparents, being dogged about our own quests, finding pleasure in the unexpected, and more. You can watch the video of the event here.