Zackary Sholem Berger

b. 1973

Current City, State, Country

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Birth City, State, Country

Washington, DC, USA

Biography

Zackary Sholem Berger writes and translates in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English. He was a Yiddish Book Center Translation Fellow in 2013 and has published four collections of original poetry: Not in the Same Breath (Yiddish House, 2011), One Nation Taken Out of Another (Apprentice House, 2014), All the Holes Line Up (Ben Yehuda Press, 2019), and Vi Lebt Zikh Dortn (self-published, 2019). His translation of Avrom Sutzkever’s prose poetry, Essential Prose, was published in 2020 by White Goat Press. His English-language translation and poetry has been published in Poetry, BODY, Words Without Borders, Asymptote, and many other forums; his translations from Hebrew have been published in the Tel Aviv Review of Books. His best known Yiddish literary work is likely his translation of Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat (Di Kats der Payats, 2003). He is a regular contributor to Forverts, In Geveb, and Der Veker. A mild-mannered physician by day, he lives with his Yiddish-speaking family in Baltimore, Maryland.

Published Works

Poetry
Vi Lebt Zikh Dortn (self-published, 2019)
All The Holes Line Up (Ben Yehuda Press, 2019)
One Nation Taken Out of Another (Apprentice House, 2014)
Not in the Same Breath (Yiddish House, 2011)

Translation
Essential Prose of Avrom Sutzkever (White Goat Press, 2020)
Eyn Fish Tsvey Fish – One Fish Two Fish in Yiddish (Twenty-Fourth Street Books, 2008)
George der Naygeriker – Curious George in Yiddish (Twenty-Fourth Street Books, 2005)
Di Kats Der Payats — The Cat in the Hat in Yiddish (Twenty-Fourth Street Books, 2003)

Author Site

Links to Sample Works

Education

BS, Caltech, 1995
MD/PhD, NYU, 2009

Languages of Publication(s) and Poets Translated

Yiddish (Sutzkever, many others), Hebrew (RIta Kogan, others), Spanish

Subject Matter

Genre