HOME | VOICES BETWEEN – THE CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS
THE CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS In today’s world of increasing intolerance, sometimes honest conversation between us is the only way forward. Voices Between – Stories against Extremism is an initiative of the Sweden-based non-profit organization Stories for Society which engages in transformational storytelling. 

The purpose of this initiative is to give rise to a force for peace by building a global network of established authors whose life stories, work, and commitments demonstrate and engage the impact of intolerance, extremism and war. It is through the arts and our practice of rigorous and honest conversation that we can make a difference. 

Voices Between – The Creative Conversations records conversations between creatives for this purpose.
CHILDHOOD LOST TO THE HOLOCAUST
Carl and Elizabeth Rosner discuss their family's survival of the Holocaust in conversation with author Julie Lindahl 
How can sharing the story of a childhood lost to the Holocaust attest to the power of positivity, and foster healing and resilience? From Schenectady, New York, Carl Rosner and his daughter, author Elizabeth Rosner, discuss their family's survival of the Holocaust and his survival of the peace in Denmark, Sweden and the U.S. in conversation with author Julie Lindahl in Drottningholm, Sweden. Carl puts the spotlight on the 1.5 million children who perished and offers hope for the future in the many children he has met who are taking responsibility by listening and carrying stories such as his forward.  

Long version including Carl's detailed story and reflections by him and his daughter. (1:35 h)
Short version including Carl's and Elizabeth's reflections. (33 min.)
AN EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY PERSON
Madoka and Oriha Sugihara interviewed by Rachel Kadish
What difference can one person make in a time of catastrophe? Rachel Kadish speaks with Madoka and Oriha Sugihara, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. During the Holocaust, Chiune Sugihara saved thousands of Jews by issuing illegal transit visas allowing the bearers to exit Europe through Japan. Among those saved where Kadish’s grandparents. Speaking via Skype between Stockholm and Tokyo, Kadish and the Sugiharas reflect together on the legacy of Chiune Sugihara's choice. 
INHERITING TRADEGY, ILLUMINATING HUMANITY
Elizabeth Rosner in dialogue with Julie Lindahl
In her most recent work of non-fiction, "Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory," award-winning author Elizabeth Rosner, daughter of Holocaust survivors, illuminates the shared experience of inheriting tragedy in across cultures. She also considers how to interest people in the stories of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity, even as they are not born into families like hers. Is the literature of the Holocaust always doomed to insufficiency in its effort to provide insight into the horror and intensity of those experiences? Together, she and author Julie Lindahl, granddaughter of perpetrators, discuss their relationship and the strength of the connection between them.
AND JUST MAYBE THINGS WILL LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT
Jason Reynolds interviewed by Rachel Kadish
What do we risk when we try to listen honestly across the lines that divide us? And what can young people’s stories teach us about how to combat intolerance? Jason Reynolds, recently appointed by the Library of Congress as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, speaks with Rachel Kadish about his writing and his work on behalf of young readers, and about the challenges and rewards of sharing stories that have the potential to heal. jasonwritesbooks.com
TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS OF NAZIS DISCUSS LEGACY & RESPONSIBILITY
Jessica Shattuck in dialogue with Julie Lindahl
Two authors who are both granddaughters of Nazis reflect upon themes raised by their family legacies: trying to understand versus the danger of normalizing extremism, forgiveness and responsibility, memory and truth, and what the third generation can contribute when it comes to understanding the historical significance of the Holocaust. Julie Lindahl interviews novelist Jessica Shattuck based on Shattuck's reading from her best-selling novel "The Women in the Castle." Note: The dialog is informal with limited sound equipment and took place in novelist Rachel Kadish's dining room.
WAR & THE GENERATIONS
Derek B Miller in dialogue with Julie Lindahl
Can we ever bridge the void between the generations when it comes to the legacy of war? What price must Jews pay to become accepted as Americans or Europeans? How do war and peace affect our perceptions of the relationship between the US and Europe? Author and activist Julie Lindahl talks with novelist Derek B. Miller. 
USING AN UNBEARABLE PAST FOR GOOD
Julie Lindahl interviewed by Rachel Kadish
What does it mean to take responsibility for deeds you yourself did not commit? Julie Lindahl relates her experience of unearthing the truth of her grandparents’ involvement with Nazism during WWII. In a conversation with author Rachel Kadish, she discusses the process that led her to write her memoir The Pendulum and to grapple with the legacy of her grandparents’ work on behalf of the Nazis’ racial war. Julie discusses her own work using her family’s stories in the fight against mounting extremism today.
AGAINST POWERLESSNESS
Rachel Kadish interviewed by Derek B. Miller
What can a story do in the face of intolerance? Author Rachel Kadish speaks about the legacy of her family’s WWII refugee experience and about the bridges art can build. Kadish discusses her own historical novel The Weight of Ink as well as the larger role of historical fiction in shifting the way we view distant times and communities, and sparking the kind of empathy that changes our actions in the world.
The interviews are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and most podcast streaming services.

​Please visit Julie Lindahl's new substack The Tendril for further Creative Conversations in both text and podcast format.

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 THE AUTHORS BEHIND THE CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS
Rachel Kadish is the best-selling author of The Weight of Ink and other novels, and the recipient of the National Jewish Book Award. Her work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Ploughshares, and Tin House, and has been anthologized in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and elsewhere. She has been a fiction fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and has received the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award and the John Gardner Fiction Award, and was the Koret Writer-in-Residence at Stanford University. She lives outside Boston and teaches in Lesley University's MFA Program in Creative Writing. She is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.  http://rachelkadish.com/

Julie Lindahl is an independent writer, educator and democracy activist based in Stockholm who has spent eight years researching and documenting her grandparents’ story as perpetrators in occupied Poland who fled to Latin America as new war crimes trials reopened in 1960. Her story, related in her memoir, The Pendulum, has been featured several times by Boston public radio, by NPR and Swedish public radio. She is founder and chair of Stories for Society. 
http://www.julielindahl.com/

​Derek B. Miller (Ph.D. international relations, MA national security) is an international best-selling novelist and international affairs specialist based in Oslo whose works often address “cultures in conflict” and characters profoundly affected by war and genocide. In 2013 Derek’s novel, Norwegian by Night, was considered to be one of the most important novels of the year by The Economist. He is also the author of The Girl in Green, American by Day, and the forthcoming Twilight Crimes. He is director of  The Policy Lab.
Conversations in Swedish:
"VÅRT DNA VISAR UTAN TVIVEL ATT DET INTE FINNS NÅGRA MÄNNISKORASER"
Leon Weintraub i samtal med Julie Lindahl
Den 27 januari 1945 när Auschwitz befriades var en vanlig dag som alla andra för Leon Weintraub. Han var fånge i koncentrationslägret Gross-Rosen efter att ha undkommit Auschwitz och överlevt fem år i ghettot Litzmannstadt. Weintraub överlevde flera läger efter Gross-Rosen. I detta informella samtal inför Förintelsens Minnesdag den 27 januari 2021 med författaren Julie Lindahl berättar kvinnoläkaren Leon Weintraub om sina erfarenheter under och efter kriget. 

​Voices Between: Stories Against Extremism is grateful for grant support from the U.S. Embassy Sweden for launching our events and media.