@KarenKirsten
Author IRENA'S GIFT, Aussie-American, Holocaust educator.
Buy IRENA'S GIFT: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, & Survival
Buy IRENA'S GIFT: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, & Survival
Jan 14 7pm: How to Write a Holocaust Story Readers Will Want to Read | Descendants of Holocaust Survivors
Jan 14 7pm: How to Write a Holocaust Story Readers Will Want to Read | Descendants of Holocaust Survivors
Join us for a dynamic panel featuring 2G/3G award-winning authors who will share their experiences writing Holocaust stories
Jan 20 7pm Museum of Jewish Heritage NYC with Robin Judd
Jan 20 7pm Museum of Jewish Heritage NYC with Robin Judd
A 2025 National Jewish Book Award Finalist that judges described as “reads like a thriller” and winner of Zibby Awards for Best Family Drama & Best Story of Overcoming, Irena’s Gift explores how reckoning with family betrayal, moral complexity, and hidden histories can reframe our identities—and why excavating these truths matters at a time when Jewish identity … Continued
IRENA'S GIFT News & Reviews
80 years ago, the U.S. Army liberated Dachau. We must rekindle a sense of pride in the ideals America once championed
80 years ago, the U.S. Army liberated Dachau. We must rekindle a sense of pride in the ideals America once championed
Let's Talk Memoir Podcast
Podcast
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Podcast
Let's Talk Memoir Podcast
Podcast Episode · Let’s Talk Memoir · 18/03/2025 · 41m
My Mom Claimed A Convent Of Nuns Kept Her Hidden From The Nazis. Learning The Truth Changed My Life.
My Mom Claimed A Convent Of Nuns Kept Her Hidden From The Nazis. Learning The Truth Changed My Life.
"Mom was 18 months old when her aunt and uncle were arrested about a mile from where I’m standing. They’d been taking care of her after her mother was killed."
CBN: Woman Who Miraculously Survived Holocaust Delivers Radical Act of Forgiveness
CBN: Woman Who Miraculously Survived Holocaust Delivers Radical Act of Forgiveness
Jerusalem Post review of Irena’s Gift
Jerusalem Post review of Irena’s Gift
Reviewing: On Duty: The Polish Blue and Criminal Police in the Holocaust; Living among the Dead; Irena’s Gift; and Holocaust Heroines.
THE FORWARD: New Holocaust memoir shifts the focus from survivors to descendants
THE FORWARD: New Holocaust memoir shifts the focus from survivors to descendants
'Irena's Gift,' a new Holocaust memoir from Karen Kirsten tries to untangle not only history but the tangled web of inherited trauma.
Starred review of Irena’s Gift
Starred review of Irena’s Gift
WRITING & STORYTELLING
Karen’s Search to Find Her Mother's WWII Survivor Past (1st story - close ‘no channels in your area’ & click play)
Karen’s Search to Find Her Mother's WWII Survivor Past (1st story - close ‘no channels in your area’ & click play)
Kirsten: Colleges must remember how Holocaust started (expand on insta image to read)
Kirsten: Colleges must remember how Holocaust started (expand on insta image to read)
The ‘final solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’ began in academia. At German universities, there were anti-Jewish lectures, articles, and songs in student fraternities. Long before Hitler invaded, Pol…
A Letter from a Stranger Revealed A Family Secret Kept from Me
A Letter from a Stranger Revealed A Family Secret Kept from Me
You can cry for Gaza and for the hostages
You can cry for Gaza and for the hostages
I exist only because a Nazi SS officer saved my mother’s life. History and human behaviour are complicated. And now, we can cry for Gaza’s children and for Israeli victims of Hamas.
BBC interview with Jo Good
BBC interview with Jo Good
ABC Radio: How a letter from Canada changed everything Karen knew about her family -
ABC Radio: How a letter from Canada changed everything Karen knew about her family -
UK Jewish Chronicle: Why the descendants of one Jewish family destroyed by the Shoah are still living with the trauma.
UK Jewish Chronicle: Why the descendants of one Jewish family destroyed by the Shoah are still living with the trauma.
Karen Kirsten discovered her family had been lying to her for years
Sydney Morning Herald: ‘I have been silent for so many years’: The revelation Joasia never expected
Sydney Morning Herald: ‘I have been silent for so many years’: The revelation Joasia never expected
Mamamia: Karen's mum was smuggled out the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. She found out years later in a letter.
Mamamia: Karen's mum was smuggled out the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. She found out years later in a letter.
"My mother was nearly fainting as she read this," Karen told Mamamia.
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Goodreads
Author of Irena's Gift and Irena's Gift
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