Coming February 3, 2026
Somewhere I Belong
A Story of Country, Family, Home, and Jewish Identity
When Jo-Anne Berelowitz was ten, her father told her that they would have to leave South Africa because Jews didn’t belong and South Africa couldn’t ever be “home.”
Jo-Anne grew up anxious about home and belonging. At twenty-seven when she left with a husband for a new life in California and the pursuit of an advanced degree in art history, Jo-Anne thought she was done with South Africa; but decades later, after a difficult divorce and several relocations, she found herself struggling with how the repressions of her South African years and her father’s words formed her. Jo-Anne reflected, too, on how art history had been a medium for averting her eyes — a way to focus on beauty instead of Apartheid. Jo-Anne began a journey — partly physical and partly spiritual — back to the past, a journey of return. She came to understand that there is a place where she belongs, a home that has always there for her. That place is Judaism. It’s where Jo-Anne belongs.
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About Jo-Anne
Jo-Anne Berelowitz is a writer and art historian whose work explores identity, family, cultural displacement, and longing for home. Born and raised in Durban, South Africa, she emigrated to California in 1977.
Her book, SOMEWHERE I BELONG, a work of autofiction that blends memoir and fiction, explores the impact of growing up in South Africa and knowing that she does not belong and will have to leave—points repeatedly made to her by her father. Her story weaves family history, Jewish diaspora experience, personal anecdotes, art history, and a search for home that spans continents and generations.
Somewhere I Belong stands as a moving tribute to the generations that came before and an exploration of identity that resonates with anyone who has wrestled with the question "where do I belong"?