Dear Colleagues,

IARPP mourns the loss of two board members who passed away within days of each other last month, Ilana Laor (Israel) and Malcolm Owen Slavin (USA). Both of these highly regarded and beloved veteran analysts made significant contributions to many analytic organizations, including IARPP, across the decades, through their writing, teaching, presenting, institutional organization and service. The loss of Ilana and Mal leaves big holes in the center of so many analytic communities. I share my condolences with all who learned from and with them, to all their colleagues, students, supervisees and friends.

A remembrance and appreciation of Ilana, compiled by the president of the Israeli Chapter, Udi Chen, and comprising contributions from a number of her Israeli colleagues, can be found here.

A tribute to Mal will follow in the next newsletter.

Allow me now a moment to shift your attention to the opening of registration for this spring’s Annual Conference in Toronto. It’s been ten years since we last convened in Canada’s cultural capital and largest city. Toronto is widely known for its vibrant arts, music, and creative scenes, its many competitive sports teams, and its exceptional multicultural restaurants. It also boasts more moderate spring temperatures than we’ve experienced at recent conference destinations. T.O. (as the locals call it) will have a busy spring this year, serving as one of the North American cities hosting FIFA’s World Cup soccer tournament in June. The resulting hotel crunch has necessitated our moving the Annual Conference forward a month to May. In other words … the conference is only 3 months away!

As we reckon with the impact of hatred and destructiveness abounding in and shaping the social-cultural-interpersonal surround in which we live and practice, as well as the hatred we find in our internal worlds, in hating and being hated, this year’s IARPP Conference, with a nod to the title of Steven Mitchell’s final book, will consider “Can Hate Last?: Reclaiming Clinical Sensibilities in Relational Psychoanalysis.” Our Conference Co-Chairs Hazel Ipp and Hilary Offman, along with Canada’s Local Conference Committee and IARPP’s International Conference Committee, have put together a remarkable array of plenaries and panels exploring this bracing theme across multiple dimensions. Please peruse the offerings, and consider registering now.

As for recent publications and presentations by IARPP members:

Just in time for Michael Eigen’s 90^th birthday, Robin Bagai (USA) has published his second book on Eigen’s work. A Michael Eigen Companion: Moments of Wisdom from a Psychoanalytic Mystic  contains 150 carefully curated excerpts from over 25 of Dr. Eigen’s books, lying at the confluence of psychoanalysis, spirituality, and psychology. Happy Birthday, Mike!

Rosetta Castellano (Italy) has written an exploration of disorganized attachment, including how it manifests in romantic partnership. Elana Leigh (Australia) co-wrote a couples therapy article on the importance of unpacking the unconscious pact driven by each partner’s need for the other to repair their oedipal struggles and narcissistic wounds.

Shir Shanun (USA) wrote a paper exploring radical hope and commitment to responsibility in support of intimate connection in the face of otherness. Noga Guggenheim (Israel) has written about her experience of reading Horney’s (1942) Self-Analysis  and how the book was initially received.

Haim Weinberg (USA) has written a paper on online group analysis and a chapter on Large Groups in addition to giving numerous presentations throughout the past year. Ruth Lijtmaer (USA) has lately presented on death of democracy as well as immigration trauma. And Joyce Slochower (USA) has presented on termination; retiring and not retiring; the poetics of mourning; and Loewald and Winnicott’s related ideas about the encounter with otherness.

* * *

If you would like news of your recent publications and/or presentations to appear in the next (June) IARPP Bookshelf, please send the following materials to me at MattAibel@gmail.com by Sunday, May 24, 2026:

• Title of your recent or upcoming publication(s)/presentation(s) (“Recent” means within the prior year)
• Abstract of the content, up to 150 words
• Link to a publisher, if applicable, so that members might access or purchase a copy
• Book cover photo or artwork, if applicable
• Digital photograph of yourself (jpeg format)
• Professional contact information as you would like it to appear publicly (city/town in which you practice or work and your email address)
• Book authors, please provide a brief bio of up to 90 words
• Presenters, please spell out organizational acronyms and include the location, if in-person

Best wishes,
Matt Aibel, LCSW
The IARPP Bulletin Editor

Matt Aibel, LCSW
New York, NY, USA
Email Matt Aibel