Besserman, P: Grassroots Zen

Perle Besserman is the award-winning author of numerous works of fiction and creative nonfiction, including several books on spirituality that were praised by Isaac Bashevis Singer for their “clarity and feeling for mystic lore” and by Publishers Weekly for the “wisdom [that] points to a universal practice of the heart.” Besserman’s books have been translated into over ten languages. She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Columbia University and, together with Manfred Steger, is founding co-teacher of the Princeton Area Zen Group in Princeton, New Jersey.Manfred B. Steger is the founding teacher of the Princeton Area Zen Group. (princetonzengroup.org). He and his wife Perle Besserman are deeply dedicated to the cultivation of a Western-style lay practice that maintains the essential elements of Zen—sitting meditation, interviews with a teacher, and silent retreats. A professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa and Honorary Professor of Global Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, Steger has written or edited twenty books on politics, history, and religion, including the bestselling Globalization: A Very Short Introduction.Manfred and Perle divide their time between Princeton, Melbourne, and Honolulu.