Rodger Kamanetz, Poet

Rodger Kamenetz (born 1950) is an American poet and author best known for The Jew in the Lotus (1994), an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV Dalai Lama. His poetry explores the Jewish experience and in recent years, dream consciousness. Since 2003 he's been instrumental in developing Natural Dreamwork, a practice that focuses on the sacred encounters in dreams.

Kamenetz was born in Baltimore and educated at Yale, Stanford and Johns Hopkins University. He lives in New Orleans and is Professor Emeritus, retiring with a dual appointment as Professor of English and Professor of Religious Studies at LSU where he was also an LSU Distinguished Professor and Erich and Lea Sternberg Honors Professor. He works privately with clients, using dreams in a process of spiritual direction. Kamenetz is married to Moira Crone, a novelist and short story writer. He is the father of Anya Kamenetz, also an author, and Kezia Kamenetz.

Presented in partnership with Jewish and American Holocaust Literature Symposium 2023.