Weimar Berlin was the home of many poets, revolutionaries and dreamers who frequented the Romanische Cafe. These included AN Stencl (1897-1983) who arrived in Britain from Germany in 1936. His poetry was admired by Thomas Mann and Arnold Zweig, among others, and published in Yiddish and German. Stencl settled in London where he founded the literary journal Loshn un lebn (Language and Life) which he edited until his death.
This collection includes selections from two of Stencl's poem sequences from his Berlin years - Un du bist Got And you are God) and Fisherdorf (Fishing Village), in turn Expressionist and pastoral. Heather Valencia contributes a biographical essay on the author's life in Berlin and London.
Stencl's poems are printed in Yiddish, with English translations by Haike Beruriah Wiegand and Stephen Watts. The book is completed by a short memoir of Stencl by East London historian William J. Fishman, and a concluding family memoir by Miriam Becker.