Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis

Art, Toni Morrison wrote, compels us to bear witness to the world "as it is and as it should be. Art invites us to know beauty and to solicit it, summon it, from even the most tragic of circumstances."

In my essay, "Packing Essentials," I write about a book my parents took with them when we left the former Soviet Union as political refugees—and about the power of art to transform, inspire, and endure.

All proceeds from sales of this book are donated to the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, an organization conceived by chef José Andrés as a way to feed people affected by natural disasters and war.