Background
Wishnia, Kenneth J. A. was born on August 20, 1960 in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Son of Arnold and Judith Wishnia.
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book
The Glass Factory (A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery)
( Ex-NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela—the irrepressible urban...)
Ex-NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela—the irrepressible urban crime fighter of 23 Shades of Black and Soft Money—is back. When Filomena discovers that a high-tech Long Island factory is spewing poisons into the water supply, she’s sure that the contaminator is none other than her nemesis, a cutthroat industrial polluter. Armed only with an ax to grind, the gutsy Filomena knows she’ll have to play dirty to clean up the neighborhood. Her search for justice introduces her to the unfamiliar scent of privilege and immerses her in the all-too-familiar stench of political corruption and personal greed. Once again, Filomena’s nose for trouble has drawn her into a case that’s more than a little hazardous to her health. Set in 1980s New York, this third installment in the series sees the tough-talking, street-smart Latina juggling the dangers of the investigation with the demands of her adorable three-year-old daughter and the delights of a surprising new romance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1604867620/?tag=2022091-20
23 Shades of Black
(NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela has pretty much seen it all ...)
NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela has pretty much seen it all in her five years on the force. But after she recognizes the victim of a fatal toxic leak, her instincts tell her that something is not what it seems to be. From her run-down Spanish Harlem apartment to the way-out clubs of the Lower East Side, Filomena's investigation leads her to suspect that a group of high-powered corporate executives has turned to murder as a way to protect its bottom line. 23 SHADES OF BLACK is K. j. a. Wishnia's first novel featuring Filomena Buscarsela. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune called this "One of the most distinctive series in mystery fiction.." "Filomena Buscarsela is a Latina heroine with the epic appeal of Everywoman. . . . The world's a mess, but Filomena's still fighting. It's that perspective that sets Wishnia apart-there's nothing else out there remotely like his books." Rocky Mountain News
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1930997647/?tag=2022091-20
The Glass Factory (A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery) by Wishnia, Kenneth (2013) Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YTJWC8Q/?tag=2022091-20
The Fifth Servant: A Novel
( Whoever saves a single life saves the entire world . ....)
Whoever saves a single life saves the entire world . . . In 1592, as the Catholic Church and the Protestants battle for control of the soul of Europe, Prague is a relatively safe harbor in the religious storm. Ruled by Emperor Rudolph II, the city is a refuge for Jews who live within the gated walls of its ghetto. But their lives are jeopardized when a young Christian girl is found with her throat slashed in a Jewish shop on the eve of Passover. Charged with blood libel, the shopkeeper and his family are arrested. All that stands in the way of a rabid Christian mob is a clever Talmudic scholar, newly arrived from Poland, named Benyamin Ben-Akiva. Pleading the shopkeeper's innocence to the city's sheriff, Benyamin is given three days to bring the true killer to justice. But the search will not be easy. Hampered by rabbinic law, and with no allies or connections, Benyamin has only his wits, knowledge, and faith to guide him on his quest—a trail that weaves from the city's teeming streets to the quiet of a shul, from the forbidden back rooms of a ghetto brothel to the emperor's lavish palace. The Talmud says many things in life depend on mazl, luck. Fortunately, Benyamin is blessed, for an unlikely group of heroes will risk their own lives to help him discover the truth: Anya, a Christian butcher's daughter; the renowned reformist rabbi Judah Loew; a wise herbal healer known as Kassandra the Bohemian; and even the emperor himself. Who would most profit from the girl's murder—and from having the entire ghetto sealed off? Is the killer a Christian indebted to the girl's apothecary father? Or a messianic Jew bent on the destruction of his people to precipitate the Messiah's coming? The desperate search for answers is complicated by the arrival of a new Holy Inquisitor determined to root out witchcraft and heresy, and reclaim the fractious Bohemian territory for Rome. With time running out, Benyamin must dare the impossible—and commit the unthinkable—to save the Jews of Prague . . . and his own life. Infused with history and spiritual insight, rich in atmosphere and color, The Fifth Servant vividly re-creates sixteenth-century Prague—a bustling city where superstition, ignorance, and hatred clash with curiosity, knowledge, and tolerance; a world in which innocent lives are swept away by political and religious struggles, and righteous men and women sacrifice everything in the name of justice and truth.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044KN0IG/?tag=2022091-20
Twentieth-Century Ecuadorian Narrative: New Readings in the Context of the Americas
(This study, aimed at both Latin Americanists and a larger...)
This study, aimed at both Latin Americanists and a larger no-Spanish-speaking audience of readers interested in literatures of the Americas, examines works by several of Ecuador's most important twentieth-century writers in terms of the interrelations of history and myth, of realism and magic, of the interacting languages and cultures and the representation of mestizaje, and the problems of using orality and dialogism to actively undermine authorative discourse.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0838754325/?tag=2022091-20
Flat Rate and Other Tales: Of Mystery and Weirdness
(Book by Wishnia, K. J. A.)
Book by Wishnia, K. J. A.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0965681408/?tag=2022091-20
Soft Money
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451197496/?tag=2022091-20
Blood Lake: A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery
( When Filomena Buscarsela takes her teen-aged daughter t...)
When Filomena Buscarsela takes her teen-aged daughter to see their extended family in Ecuador, it's more than a homecoming. Filomena hasn't been back in years, and the trip brings back memories of her previous life there as a revolutionary. Strangest of all, people keep asking her if her lover--who died in a hail of police gunfire in front of her very eyes--is alive. And then a priest is murdered, a man who years ago saved her life and helped her escape to America. It's an election year, and the dirty hand of politics seems to be everywhere, perhaps even in this senseless death. Filomena's investigation promises to lead her back to the very people she escaped, all those years ago. All in all, Wishnia provides a compelling look at the provenance of one of mystery fiction's most dynamic heroines.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312281862/?tag=2022091-20
Kenneth J. A. Wishnia
Edit Profilelanguage educator translator writer
Kenneth J.A. Wishnia, American Writer, translator, language educator. Avocations: photography, translating from Spanish and Yiddish.
M C. Sholem Aleichem Fund scholar National Yiddish Book Center, 1993, 95-96; Vivian L. Hort fellow Yivo Institute Jewish Research, 1996; recipient Tableau d'Honneur Lycée Henri IV, 1974.
Education
Bachelor, Brown University, 1982. Doctor of Philosophy, State University of New York, 1996.
Career
Sound designer, technician various theaters, New York City, 1983-1985. Production editor Plenum Press, Ecuador, 1985-1986. Theater instructor Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Cuenca, Ecuador, 1986-1988.
Office manager World Hunger Year, New York City, 1988-1989. Adjunct assistant professor State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1996-1998, Queens College-CUNY, Flushing, 1996-1998. Assistant professor Suffolk County Community College, 2000—2007, associate professor, since 2007.
Judge Edgar Allan Poe Awards, 2000, 09, Judge Shamus Awards, 2010.
Achievements
Works
book
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Twentieth-Century Ecuadorian Narrative: New Readings in the Context of the Americas
(This study, aimed at both Latin Americanists and a larger...)
-
Blood Lake: A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery
( When Filomena Buscarsela takes her teen-aged daughter t...)
-
The Glass Factory (A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery)
( Ex-NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela—the irrepressible urban...)
-
23 Shades of Black
(NYPD cop Filomena Buscarsela has pretty much seen it all ...)
-
The Fifth Servant: A Novel
( Whoever saves a single life saves the entire world . ....)
-
Flat Rate and Other Tales: Of Mystery and Weirdness
(Book by Wishnia, K. J. A.)
- Las Paredes Tienen La Palabra y Maximum Ataraxy: The Walls Have the Floor and Ataraxia Maxima.
- The Glass Factory (A Filomena Buscarsela Mystery) by Wishnia, Kenneth (2013) Paperback
- Twentieth-Century Ecuadorian Narrative: New Readings in the Context of the Americas by K. J. A. Wishnia (1999-10-01)
- Soft Money
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Twentieth-Century Ecuadorian Narrative: New Readings in the Context of the Americas
Membership
Member American Literature Translators Association (David Kornbacker scholarship 1994), American Association professors of Yiddish (board directors 1997-1998), Association Ecuatorianistas, National Writers Union, Mystery Writers of America, International Association Crime Writers, Sisters in Crime.
Interests
Connections
Married Mercedes Peña, August 7, 1986. Children: Leah Victoria, Jeremiah Angelo.
Education
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1982
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1996
Career
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1983 - 1985
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1985 - 1986
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1986 - 1988
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1988 - 1989
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1996 - 1998
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1996 - 1998
Awards
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Recipient Tableau d'Honneur Lycée Henri IV, 1974. Sholem Aleichem Fund scholar, National Yiddish Book Center, 1993, 1995-1996, Vivian l. Hort fellow, Yivo Institute Jewish Research, 1996.Recipient Tableau d'Honneur Lycée Henri IV, 1974. Sholem Aleichem Fund scholar, National Yiddish Book Center, 1993, 1995-1996, Vivian l. Hort fellow, Yivo Institute Jewish Research, 1996.