Janet R. Kirchheimer’s moving collection of poems about the Holocaust, How To Spot One Of Us (2007), received endorsements from Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Sir Martin Gilbert, and Rabbis Harold Kushner and Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Chairman Emeritus of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council), as well as renowned poets Mary Stewart Hammond, Yerra Sugarman, and Jeanne Marie Beaumont.

In 2011, Janet was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the 261st Signal Brigade for her work in the 2009 Multi-National Forces Days of Remembrance Holocaust Memorial Service held at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. Approached by the U.S. military, she helped design the program, video-taped a talk and reading, and judged a poetry contest for soldiers. In 2010, she received a Citation for her work from The Council of The City of New York, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Tiferet Poetry Contest, and was a finalist in the Rachel Wetzsteon Prize from the 92nd St. Y. A recipient of a Drisha Institute for Jewish Education Arts Fellowship for 2006-2007, she was a semi-finalist in the quot;Discovery"/The Nation contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2007.

Janet’s work has appeared in journals including Atlanta Review, Potomac Review, Limestone, Connecticut Review, Kalliope, Common Ground Review, on beliefnet.com and babelfruit.com. Her featured essays include "Make Your Selection, Please" for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), and "Kristallnacht: How Will We Remember?" for The New York Jewish Week. Her poems have been translated into Russian, and she has given readings at venues such as The New York Public Library.

A frequent speaker at conferences and on radio, she recently appeared at a program on German-Speaking Jews and Their Lasting Impact on New York City, co-sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute and The Jewish Studies Center at Baruch College. Janet has taught and given readings at a variety of locales including Yeshiva University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, ADL/Hidden Child Foundation, the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies, the JCC in Manhattan and Washington D.C., the Westover School, the YMCA, Hadassah, Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Bowery Poetry Club, The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, and many other places.

A Teaching Fellow at Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Janet conducts leadership development seminars, text study and American-Jewish history classes, as well as workshops in which adults and teens explore their Judaism through creative writing and poetry. She also leads a "Poetry Shmooze" in which participants read and discuss poems and the art of poetry. To bring Janet to your community, phone:212-779-3300 x111, or Email: jkirchheimer@clal.org.