Kathleen  Alcalá and Dolores Sloan are members of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies, where Kathleen is President and Dolores is Chair of the SCJS Arts Program Committee. Their work reflects their professional and personal connection in the study of crypto (hidden) Judaism, with Ms. Alcalá exploring her familial and cultural history, and Ms. Sloan presenting the ancestral and historical roots of this fascinating subgroup. They are visiting Austin for an SCJS Board meeting.

The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal: Survival of an Imperiled Culture in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries by Dolores Sloan traces the history of a people who flourished on the Iberian Peninsula for hundreds of years and experienced a golden age with achievements in science, philosophy, arts and political economy, even as subjects of Muslims and Christians. Dolores Sloan brings a half-century of expertise as writer, journalist, editor, speaker and professor to her diverse publications & presentations. She is an editor of the Journal of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Crypto Jews, and former editor of HaLapid, journal of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies.

The Desert Remembers My Name - On Family and Writing, received the International Latino Book Award and Forward Magazine Award. Kathleen Alcalá is also the author of a short story collection, Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist, and three novels set in 19th Century Mexico: Spirits of the Ordinary, The Flower in the Skull, and Treasures in Heaven. Her work has been favorably reviewed in The New York Times, and received the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, the Governor's Writers Award, the Western States Book Award, and the Washington State Book Award.