UNC Asheville's Center for Jewish Studies will present An Evening with Ruth Gruber, internationally known journalist and writer, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, in Owen Conference Center. Her talk is free and open to the public.

Gruber is the author of "Haven: The Unknown Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees," which recently was made into a television documentary that aired on CBS last spring. The book tells the true story of the only refugees saved by the U.S. government during World War II and the remarkable role Gruber herself played in the rescue.

Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1911, Gruber was the first correspondent, male or female, to enter the Soviet Arctic and the Gulag in Stalin's iron age, and she was the only

correspondent to cover the voyage of the ship Exodus 1947. Both the book and the film Exodus are based on her eyewitness account of that event, "Destination Palestine: The Story of the Haganah Ship Exodus 1947." A dynamic, engaging speaker, Gruber has published 14 books, including "Raquela: A Woman of Israel" and "Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent."

The event is co-sponsorship by The Center for Diversity Education and the Western North Carolina Jewish Federation.

For more information, call the Center for Jewish Studies at UNCA, 251-6576, or click here.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Rick Chess, UNCA Center for Jewish Studies director, 828/251-6576
• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information director, 828/251-6676