Carrying Queer Literary History Across Borders

PKI's Jerusalem LGBTQ+ group welcomed writer and collector of Russian-language queer books Dina Kofman to the Jerusalem Open House. Dina donated more than a dozen books by queer authors to PKI's growing library.

The books opened a window onto a remarkable chapter of queer cultural history in the Russian-speaking world. Participants traced how queer literature emerged in the face of Soviet repression, learned about the writers and activists who helped create it, and reflected on how books that were once openly published and circulated have become increasingly marginalized and restricted. By bringing these books to Jerusalem, the library preserves a cultural legacy that is growing harder for Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ readers to find.

The evening also had a deeply personal side. Dina read several of her own short stories, written from the perspective of a mother of a queer child. One participant described the experience as almost therapeutic: hearing simple words of parental kindness and acceptance meant a great deal to those whose own relationships with their parents have been difficult.

For PKI, this library is much more than a collection of books. It is a place where Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ immigrants can preserve part of their cultural history while encountering stories that affirm identities once pushed to the margins. As these books pass from hand to hand and across borders, they carry memory with them, and in Israel they are finding new readers, new conversations, and a new home.