Izzy's Fire by Nancy Wright Beasley
The story of how an impoverished three-member Catholic farm family saved thirteen Jews from the Holocaust in Lithuania, seven of them escapees from Kovno Ghetto. All sixteen lived and as of 2015, five of the Jews are still living. This book is being used in public and private schools, colleges and universities, as well as in Holocaust conferences in the U.S. and in Europe. Izzy's Fire was nominated by a People's Choice Award by the Library of Virginia in 2006.Nancy Wright Beasley has worked in journalism for 36 years, starting as a state correspondent for The Richmond News Leader for seven years. For nearly 16 years, she was a personal writer and contributing editor for Richmond magazine. With that magazine, as well as several others, Beasley has published national award-winning columns and articles. In 2005, the Virginia Press Women honored her a Communicator of Achievement, and in 2006, the Richmond YWCA named her one of Central Virginia's Ten Distinguished Women. Izzy's Fire: Discovering Humanity in the Holocaust was chosen one of five outstanding nonfiction works written by Virginia authors by the Library of Virginia in 2005, and it was nominated for the People's Choice Award.
During the Holocaust in Lithuania, a three-member Catholic farm family saved 13 Jews, according to the book. All of them made it through the war, and four of them are still alive today. Reflections of a Purple Zebra: Essays of a Different Stripe, her second book, was released in 2007. It's a collection of 60 columns originally published in Richmond magazine.
In 2000, the author received her master's degree (MS) from Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Mass Communications, where she also taught for several years. In 2011, she received a second master's degree (MFA) in children's literature from Hollins University. Beasley authored The Little Lion: A Hero in the Holocaust for her Hollins thesis, based on a Jewish teenager who lived in Lithuania during the Holocaust and helped family members escape the Kovno Ghetto. Irene Ziegler, a Richmond writer, adapted it for the theater.
Swift Creek Mill Theatre will present the play on January 28, 2016, and it will run until March 5, 2016. Upon first reading Nancy Wright Beasley's book, Izzy's Fire: Discovering Humanity in the Holocaust, and later her unpublished manuscript for The Little Lion: A Hero in the Holocaust, I was touched by the potential for leveraging the power of theatre to communicate these essential stories to a broader audience, according to Tom Wide, creative director of Swift Creek. The Little Lion, in particular, has the ability to resonate with everyone from teenagers to Holocaust survivors, emphasizing the themes of bravery, perseverance, irony, and horror that it portrays. It has been a delight to bring this narrative to the stage, where the author, writer, designers, technicians, and performers can combine their diverse skills to improve the story telling.
We must not forget that evil is still extremely real and very powerful in today's terrifying world, and these stories must be recounted. Tom Wide, Director of The Little Lion and Artistic Director of Swift Creek Mill Theatre.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781928662945 |
| ISBN 10 | 1928662943 |
| Title | Izzy's Fire |
| Author | Nancy Wright Beasley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Palari Publishing |
| Year published | 2008-06-01 |
| Number of pages | 289 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |