Born in Kharkov, Ukraine, Irena Karshenbaum emigrated from the Soviet Union with her parents in 1978. The family travelled through Vienna and lived for six months in Ostia, outside of Rome, before settling in Calgary, Canada in 1979.

 

Receiving bachelor degrees in English literature and Business from the University of Calgary, Irena has worked in corporate communications, as a regulatory analyst and in fund development.

 

Simultaneously her creative portfolio has grown and has been about giving voice and creating cultural vibrancy. She has accomplished this through her literary writing and readings, organizing cultural and educational events, translating and conducting oral histories, volunteering as a living history interpreter and leading a project that gifted a lost synagogue — the 1916 Montefiore Institute — to Calgary’s Heritage Park Historical Village.