Ilse Josepha Lazaroms is a scholar of Gender Studies & Jewish Studies and a writer of literary fiction and essays. She holds an MA in Gender studies from Utrecht University and a PhD in Jewish studies from the European University Institute in Florence. She has held fellowships at Harvard University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Center for Jewish History in New York, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Budapest. Currently, she teaches Gender Studies at Utrecht University.
Her academic work – at the intersection of feminist studies and Jewish studies – has appeared in many international journals, academic and beyond. In 2015, her book The Grace of Misery: Joseph Roth and the Politics of Exile, 1918–1939, about the complicated life of the Jewish writer Joseph Roth, was awarded the Victor Adler State Prize from the Austrian Ministry of Science and Education. Her current interests are feminist literary non-fiction, explorations of home and belonging, and the relationship between literary form, (bodily) transformations, motherhood & parenting.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Ilse has lived in Budapest, London, Jerusalem, Oslo, New York, Florence, Jena, and Cambridge, MA, and currently lives in Amsterdam with her daughter. Find Ilse at @ilsejosepha on IG and Twitter.
During the academic year 2019-2020, Dr. Lazaroms was on leave at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University.
Photo credit: Irwan Droog