LICHTENSTEIN, Rachel
Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, writer, oral historian and curator. She is the author of Rodinsky’s Whitechapel (1999), Keeping Pace (2003), A Little Dust Whispered (2004) and the co-author with Iain Sinclair of the highly praised Rodinsky’s Room (1999). Her latest book, On Brick Lane, was published in 2008 to much critical acclaim. On Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize last year and is the first of a trilogy of books on London Streets for publishers Hamish Hamilton. Volumes on Hatton Garden and Portobello Road will follow. She has also written essays, short stories and book reviews for periodicals, newspapers and radio.
Lichtenstein has exhibited her artwork internationally, including venues such as The Whitechapel Gallery, The Tate Modern, The Barbican Art Gallery and The Jerusalem Theatre. Her public artwork is on permanent display in Brick Lane and The Holocaust Museum in Nottingham.
She is also a tour guide of the Jewish East End and regularly lectures at Literary Festivals, universities and museums… In 2003 Lichtenstein became The British Library’s first Creative Research Fellow. She is currently the Writer in Residence for Westminster University. Her curatorial work includes exhibitions at The Women’s Library and The Christchurch Gallery and her oral history projects have been shown in The V&A and The Museum of Childhood.
“Brick Lane is a lot of things to a lot of people, not least Rachel Lichtenstein. Describing herself as an artist, archivist and writer, she has spent five long years juggling her various skills to pull together a magnificent chronicle of one of the capital’s most renowned streets.” — Lianne Kolirin, The Sunday Express
“The most absorbing book I’ve read for years. Rodinsky’s Room is many things: an inquiry into the nature of identity; a tale of mystery and suspense; a homage to the Jewish east end.” — The Observer