Richard Zimler

Website : www.zimler.com
Residence : Porto, Portugal and New York City

Biographical information Richard Zimler was born in Manhasset, New York, in 1956. After earning a bachelor's degree in comparative religion from Duke University (1977) and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University (1982), he worked for eight years as a journalist, mainly in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1990, he moved to Porto, Portugal, where he has taught journalism at the University of Porto for the last 12 years.

Zimler has published four novels since 1996: Unholy Ghosts, The Angelic Darkness, The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, and Hunting Midnight. The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon is the first title in Zimler's "Sephardic Cycle" series which is a collection of works in which he tells Sephardic Jewish history through the story of different generations and branches of a single Portuguese-Jewish family. The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon was named 1998 Book of the Year by three British critics and has been a bestseller in eleven different countries, including the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, and Italy. Reviewers have noted that this historical mystery, based on tragic events in Lisbon in 1506, has caused two entire cultures, Brazil and Portugal, to re-examine their treatment of the Jews. A best-selling title on Amazon.com for four years, this book has also encouraged interest in Jewish mysticism in places as far away as New Zealand and Croatia. Zimler's latest work and the second in the series, Hunting Midnight, will be released in the U.S. on July 1, 2003.

Zimler has won numerous prizes for his stories and novels, including a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction in 1994. He has lectured on Portuguese Jewish culture at universities, museums, bookstores, synagogues, and libraries all over the world from Paris to New York, Sydney to Auckland. He has frequently appeared on Portuguese television and radio to discuss his writing and Jewish culture. He reviews books for the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Literary Review, and Livros. When not working on his fiction, he enjoys gardening at his weekend house in the north of Portugal. He has spoken at numerous temples, Jewish centers, libraries, and bookstores. He speaks English and Portuguese frequently.

Discussion topics

• Identified as the Enemy: The History of the Secret Jews in Portugal
• The World in Miniature: The History of Jewish Manuscript Illumination - Zimler uses slides to tell the story of Jewish manuscript illumination and the talent artists whose illustrated Old Testament and prayer books once inspired worship throughout the diaspora.
• Readings from his best-selling work, The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, and his forthcoming work, Hunting Midnight.

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