Reports from a Haunted Present | Dara Horn (USA)

Dara Horn is an American Jewish novelist and essayist, winner of the National Jewish Book Award (2003, 2006, 2021). Her book “People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present” offers a sharp and thought-provoking critique of how the West engages with Jews and Judaism—primarily through the lens of death, persecution, and destruction—while overlooking the richness of contemporary Jewish life. Horn argues that society tends to show interest, compassion, and even identification with Jews only as victims of the past, rather than as living subjects with voice, culture, and sovereignty in the present. Her book “One Little Goat”, a graphic novel created with renowned illustrator Theo Ellsworth, tells the story of a lost afikoman, a time-traveling talking goat, and an endless Passover Seder. In this conversation, Horn will discuss contemporary American Jewish writing, the dramatic shift in perceptions of Jews in the United States and Europe since October 7th, and how this has shaped both her writing and her life.