Wordsprouts: The Park Slope Food Coop Reading Series - Katherine Fennelly

Please join us for the newly revived WordSprouts in partnership with the Old Stone House. WordSprouts is a long-running Park Slope Food Coop author series, where Coop authors share thoughts about their works and process. The event is free and open to everyone.

Join us for a conversation with Katherine Fennelly about her journey of discovery and research leading to her 2023 book publication, Family Declassified: Uncovering my grandfather’s journey from spy to children's book author.

Katherine will speak about her discovery of her Hungarian born grandfather Francis Kalnay’s past, and her research, uniquely facilitated by her status as his descendant, her training and profession as a social scientist, and her storytelling ability. Topics covered in her book include espionage, family secrets, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungarian Jewish History, antisemitism, WWIl and the Holocaust, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), US Intelligence, the McCarthy Era, children’s books, and naturist/nudist camps in rural America.

About Katherine:

Katherine Fennelly earned a PhD from Columbia University and taught at the Mailman School of Public Health early in her career. She is an emeritus professor at the University of Minnesota, where she specialized in immigration and public policy. Katherine discovered her family’s Jewish roots as an adult, something her Hungarian-American mother preferred not to discuss. When not tracking down classified documents at the National Archives and delving into family history, she volunteers for immigrant-serving organizations and enjoys taking her granddaughters to J.J. Byrne. Her book is available from Sunbury Press, Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Community Bookstore in Park Slope. You can learn more at katherinefennelly.com