Lee Kofman and her family survived Soviet persecution as refuseniks in the 1970s, but nothing could prepare her for what happened when she tried to support fellow Jewish creatives in Australia after October 7th. The acclaimed author and writing teacher created a WhatsApp group (later vilified as 'Zio600') for Jewish artists and academics, only to see the private conversations leaked and members' personal details publicly doxxed. She lost most of her teaching work overnight, but she won't be silenced. Lee caught up with Tami and Dash to discuss the chilling parallels between her childhood in the USSR and today's literary gatekeeping, and why she's channelling her energy into "Ruptured" - a powerful new collection of essays from Australian Jewish women.

Article related to this conversation:

https://thejewishindependent.com.au/reassembling-the-jewish-matryoshka-dolls-in-my-family

https://thejewishindependent.com.au/hate-on-becoming-a-bad-jew

https://thejewishindependent.com.au/australians-love-hearing-about-writers-roots-unless-theyre-israeli

More information about Lee and Ruptured:

https://leekofman.com.au/ruptured/

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