MAEERA SHREIBER portrait
  • Chair of Jewish Studies Initiative, Religious Studies Program, College of Humanities
  • Affiliated Faculty, Middle East Studies Program
  • Professor, English
801-581-7478

Research Keywords

  • Jewish-American Studies
  • Modern Contemporary Poetry
  • 20th and 21st Century Literature and Art

Presentations

  • “Martin Buber and the Subversive Poetics of Admiel Kosman.” Paper at the Israeli Conference for Study of Contemporary Religion and Spirituality, Tel Aviv University, Israel, May 4-7 2015. Conference Paper, Submitted, 05/2015.
  • “The Trouble with Translation and Prayer.” Invited lecture. “Imagine the Possibilities: A Conference on the Future of Liturgy” at the Mordechai Kaplan Center, New York, NY, May 15-18, 2015. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2015.
  • “Holy Envy: Implications for Modern Poetry.” Paper at the 2014 American Jewish Studies Conference, Baltimore, MD, December 2014. Conference Paper, Presented, 12/2014.
  • "The Visual Arts from a Jewish Perspective." Invited lecture at the Springville (UT) Art Museum, December 2014. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2014.
  • Organizer and participant in the roundtable panel on “‘Holy Envy’?: The Judeo-Christian Borderland and Its Implications for Jewish Studies” at the 2014 American Jewish Studies Conference, Baltimore, MD, December 2014. Presentation, Presented, 12/2014.
  • “’Mohammed, are you still awake?’: Admiel Kosman and the Poetics of Engagement.” Invited lecture at Northwestern University (English Department and Jewish Studies Program), Evanston, IL, 16 May 2014. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2014.
  • Participant and Fellowship recipient at The Hess Family Fellowship Seminar in Holocaust Studies, Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C., January 3-8, 2014. Other, Presented, 01/2014.
  • “Envy, Or: Poetry, the Judeo-Christian Border Zone, and Karl Shapiro.” Paper at the 2013 American Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, MA, December 15-17, 2013. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 12/2013.
  • Presentation in panel on "New Challenges Facing Jewish Studies Programs" at the 2013 American Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, MA, December 15-17, 2013. Presentation, Presented, 12/2013.
  • "Karl Shapiro and Jewish Envy." Invited talk at symposium on "New Directions in Jewish Literary and Cultural Studies," Frankel Institute of Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, March 27-29, 2013. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/2013.
  • “Martin Buber and Admiel Kosman.” Invited lecture, Franklin Institute of Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 13, 2012. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2012.
  • “Gertrude Stein and the Uses of Religion.” Invited paper, Franklin Institute of Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 12, 2012. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2012.
  • “Other than the Self: Admiel Kosman’s Identity Poetics.” Paper at the 2012 American Association of Religion Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 2012. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 11/2012.
  • “Addressing Others, Acquiring Selves: The Buberian Poetics of Admiel Kosman.” Invited paper at Conference on “The Stranger at the Gate,” at Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York, April 2012. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/2012.
  • Paper at MLA Special Session on “The Future of Jewish American Literature,” 2012 Modern Language Association Convention, Seattle, Washington, January 5, 2012. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 01/05/2012.
  • I presented a "Work in Progress" talk in the University of Utah English Department on my current research, March 2011. Title: "Becoming Secular: Gertrude Stein and the Uses of Religion.". Presentation, Presented, 03/2011.
  • “Speaking in Tongues: Poetics of the Sacred, Modernism, and the Avant Garde.” Invited presentation, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, March 23, 2010. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/23/2010.
  • “‘None are like you, Shulamite’: Linguistic Longings in Jewish American Verse.” Invited lecture, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, March 22, 2010. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/22/2010.
  • “Haim Plotzik: Another Chapter in the Ever-Expanding Story of Jewish-American Modernism.” Invited lecture, Jewish American Literature Conference, Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 2009. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/01/2009.
  • “Rachel Tzvia Back’s Poetics of Estrangement.” Invited lecture, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, California, April 2008. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/01/2008.
  • “The Function of Poetry in Mishkan Tefila: A New Reform Prayerbook,” Invited lecture, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, California, March 2008. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/01/2008.
  • “The Jewish Christian Borderzone.” Invited lecture: The 2023 Taubman Endowed Lecture in Jewish Studies at UC Santa Barbara, October 15, 2023. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/15/2023.
  • “The Poetics of Memory: A Symposium and Conversation.” Organizer and chair. University of Utah, September 11, 2023. Presentation, Presented, 09/11/2023.
  • “The Jewish Christian Borderzone.” Invited talk (online). Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS), March 23, 2023. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/23/2023.
  • “Holy Envy”: presentation at Alan Leve Center for Jewish Studies, UCLA, February 27, 2023. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/27/2023.
  • Book talk and presentation to Jewish Community Center, Salt Lake City, February 7, 2023. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/07/2023.
  • “Holy Envy.” Invited lecture (and book launch). At the Center for Jewish Studies, and the Center for Jewish History, New York, December 13, 2022. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2022.
  • “Poems that Make Prayer Tremble: Denise Levertov and Leah Goldberg.” Invited talk. At the 2022 AJS (American Jewish Studies) Convention, Boston, MA, December 18-20, 2022. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2022.
  • Co-organizer and discussant in Conference on “Decolonizing Jewish American Literature.” The Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience, Tulane University, New Orleans, October 2022. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2022.
  • “Shame, Louis Zukofsky and the Sorrows of Yiddish.” Invited lecture. In AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) Conversation Series panel on “Mourning and Shame n Prayers and Verse.” August 22, 2022. (Video podcast: https://associationforjewishstudies.org/ajs-conversation-series). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 08/2022.
  • “Rethinking American Jewish Literary Studies in the #MeToo Era.” Invited panelist. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, UCLA. November 22, 2021. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2021.
  • "Poetry, Prayer, and Translation." Invited presentation at the Frankel Center for Jewish Studies, University of Michigan, April 2021. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/2021.
  • Panel on Jewish Poetry, Yiddish Center, Amherst, MA, July 2021. Presentation, Accepted, 07/2020.
  • “Reassessing Interfaith Relations in American Jewish Studies.” Roundtable participant. The 2019 AJS (American Jewish Studies) Conference, San Diego, CA, December 15, 2019. Presentation, Presented, 12/2019.
  • “Graduate Student Lights” panel/session. Invited respondent. 2019 AJS Conference, San Diego, CA, December 16, 2019. Presentation, Presented, 12/2019.
  • “Social Justice: Texts and Traditions.” Invited panelist on this Interfaith panel. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, November 28, 2019. Presentation, Presented, 11/2019.
  • “Desire, Envy, and the Jewish-Christian Borderzone.” Invited lecture. Center for Jewish History, New York City, September 9, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/2019.
  • “The Narrow Ridge: Martin Buber, Paul Levertoff, and his daughter Denise Levertov.” Invited paper (respondent: Professor Shaul Magid). Center for Jewish History, New York City, September 9, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 09/2019.
  • “‘Holy Envy’: Affect and the Dynamics of Interfaith Engagement.” Invited talk at Annual ICCJ (International Council of Christians and Jews) Conference, Lund, Sweden, July 1, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 07/2019.
  • “Choice and the Book of Ruth.” Invited lecture (delivered in Hebrew), Kibbutz Lotan, Israel, June 8, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2019.
  • “Thinking About Israel . . . Through the Lens of Jewish American Literature.” Invited lecture, University of Haifa, Israel, June 5, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/2019.
  • “Whitman/Levertov: The Possibilities and Limitations of the Political.” Paper at “Poetry Now III” Conference on “Poetry and Democracy at the Whitman Bicentennial.” Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, May 13, 2019. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2019.
  • “Denise Levertov: The Jew Who Wasn’t.” Paper at the 2019 Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900. University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, February 21-23, 2019. Conference Paper, Presented, 02/2019.
  • Panelist and discussant at workshop on “20th-Century Jewish Literature Revisited.” 2018 American Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, MA, December 16, 2018. Conference Paper, Presented, 12/2018.
  • “‘A Line Still Taught Between Them’: Denise Levertov and the Jewish-Christian Borderzone.” Paper at the 2018 American Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, MA, December 17, 2018. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 12/2018.
  • Panelist and speaker at symposium on “Social Justice: Texts and Traditions” at the Brigham Young University Kennedy Center, November 28, 2018. Presentation, Presented, 11/2018.
  • “Denise Levertov, Kabbalah, and the Jewish-Christian Borderzone.” Invited lecture, Fordham University Religious Studies Program, New York, NY, October 30, 2018. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2018.
  • “Sholem Asch and the Sorrows of ‘Holy Envy’.” Invited lecture, Graduate Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA, February 12, 2018. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/12/2018.
  • “The Poetics of Kabbalah: Peter Cole.” Paper at the 2017 American Jewish Studies Conference, Washington, DC, December 17, 2017. Conference Paper, Presented, 12/17/2017.
  • “Theorizing the Judeo-Christian Borderzone: Some Twentieth-Century Examples.” Invited lecture, Hebrew University, Israel, June 21, 2017. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/21/2017.
  • “Holy Envy: Sholem Asch and the Judeo-Christian Borderzone.” Invited Lecture, Haifa University, Israel, June 4, 2017. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 06/04/2017.
  • “Teaching Emily Dickinson.” Sakhnin Academic College, Israel, April 30, 2017. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/30/2017.
  • “Tremendous Poetic Potential: 21st-Century Jewish Poets Take on the Kabbalah.” The Talma Yizraely Memorial Lecture. Tel Aviv University, Israel, March 30, 2017. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/30/2017.
  • "Jewish American Poetry and the Difference It Makes." Paper at the 2016 American Jewish Studies Conference, December 18-20,2016, San Diego, California. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 12/2016.
  • Panelist in Roundtable on "Poetry and Contemporary Prayer Practice." 2016 American Jewish Studies Conference, San Diego, CA, December 2016. Presentation, Presented, 12/2016.
  • Wrote and produced original prayer/poetry presentation for Symposium on "Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex Religious Landscape," Hebrew Union College, New York City, November 10-11, 2016. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 11/2016.
  • Panelist and Respondent in session on “Lost Objects in Jewish American Literature” at the 2016 Modern Language Association Convention, Austin, TX, January 5-8, 2016. Conference Paper, Refereed, Accepted, 01/2016.
  • “Walking the Rail: Writing in the Judeo-Christian Borderzone.” Paper at the 2015 American Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, MA, December 2015. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 12/2015.
  • Invited lecture and presentation at the upcoming Symposium on "Crafting Jewish Life in a Complex Religious Landscape," hosted by The Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City, on 13-14 November 2016. Invited Talk/Keynote, Accepted, 11/2015.
  • Invited Presentation in Women’s Multi-Faith Assembly, at the Parliament of World Religions, Salt Lake City, UT, October 15, 2015. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2015.
  • Panelist and Respondent in forthcoming session on “Lost Objects in Jewish American Literature” at the 2016 Modern Language Association Convention, Austin, TX, January 5-8, 2016. Conference Paper, Refereed, Accepted, 05/2015.
  • “Martin Buber and the Subversive Poetics of Admiel Kosman.” Paper at the 7th Israeli Conference for Study of Contemporary Religion and Spirituality, Tel Aviv University, Israel, May 4-7, 2015. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2015.

Languages

  • Hebrew, fluent.
  • French, functional.

Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Israel

Publications

  • “Kaddish: Jewish American Elegy Post-1945.” Chapter in *The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy*, ed. Karen Weisman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. 397-412. Published, 06/2010.
  • “‘None are like you, Shulamite’: Linguistic Longings in Jewish American Verse.” Article in *Prooftexts*, Special Issue on Multilingual Jewish Literature in The United States, ed. Jan Schwartz. Published, 02/2011.
  • Review of *Modernism, Feminism, and Jewishness* by Maren Tova Linett (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007). In *Modern Language Quarterly* (September 2009). Published, 09/01/2009.
  • "On Secularity, Sacredness, and Jewish American Poets Post-1960." Chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature, ed. Hana Wirth-Nesher. Forthcoming Cambridge University Press, 2015. Accepted, 06/2014.
  • Review-essay of *Modernist Writings and Religio-Scientific Discourse: H. D., Loy, and Toomer* by Lara Vetter and of *On Mount Vision: Forms of the Sacred in Contemporary American Poetry* by Norman Finkelstein. Forthcoming in *American Literature* (2012). Published, 12/2012.
  • “Chayei Sarah: Contemporary Reflections.” Article. In *The Torah: A Women’s Commentary*, eds. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea Weiss (Women of Reform Judaism, 2008). Published, 06/2008.
  • Holy Envy: Writing in the Jewish Christian Borderzone. Book. Fordham University Press, 2022. Published, 11/2022.
  • “Jewish Writers of the Holocaust.” Audio podcast. Episode 10 of “Humanities Radio” series, 2021-2022, University of Utah: https://humanities.utah.edu/humanitieshub/2021-2022/hum-radio-january-comm-4670.php. Published, 09/2022.
  • “Between Spirit and Matter”: commissioned catalogue essay for special exhibit of Beth Krensky’s artwork at Yale University, Fall 2022. Published, 08/2022.
  • “Shame, Louis Zukofsky and the Sorrows of Yiddish.” Video podcast, August 2022. AJS Conversation Series, Association for Jewish Studies. https://associationforjewishstudies.org/ajs-conversation-series. Published, 08/2022.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2021). "Shattered Vessels". Paideuma. Accepted, 07/2021.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2021). "Midrash". MadHat Press. Published, 05/2021.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2021). “‘Holy Insecurity’: Thinking about Dabru Emet with Martin Buber and Leonard Cohen.” . American Religion. Published, 04/2021.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2019). "oh, Mohammed, are you still awake?”: Admiel Kosman, Martin Buber, and the Poetics of Engagement.”. AJS Review. Vol. 43.1, 169-187. Published, 04/2019.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2018). “Embracing the Void: A Short Essay in Memory of Chana Bloch.”. Special Issue of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies in Honor of Chana Bloch, eds. Rachel Tzvia Back and Dara Barnat. Vol. Vol. 36.2 (Summer 2018), 42-57. Published, 08/2018.
  • Maeera Shreiber (2018). “Passover in the Jewish Christian Border Zone.” Article in Faith Counts, an online Religious Studies website. June 2018. Faith Counts (an online Religious Studies jouirnal). Published, 07/2018.
  • "Emma Lazarus and 'The New Colossus.'" Chapter for the "Great Jewish Book Teacher Resource Kit" (forthcoming The Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA, 2017). Published, 07/2017.
  • “On Secularity, Sacredness, and Jewish American Poets Post-1960.” Chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature, ed. Hana Wirth-Nesher (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015). Published, 11/2015.
  • “Introduction” to Studies in American Jewish Literature, Special Issue: Poetry. Spring 2015. Published, 07/2015.
  • Co-editor of Studies in American Jewish Literature, Special Issue: Poetry. Spring 2015. Published, 07/2015.