Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • SO MUCH has been happening over at Fig Tree Books (my employer). Check out our latest newsletter.
  • I was delighted to receive the latest issue of Lilith magazine in the mail this week and especially impressed by Elizabeth Edelglass’s short story within it.
  • This week, Tablet magazine presented original fiction by Maxim Shrayer: “A Genius in the Attic: Secrets of a Cape Cod Dacha.”
  • Love this piece by Ruth Wisse, occasioned by the publication of a new biography of Saul Bellow. (ht Mosaic Magazine)
  • The Jewish Book Council is hiring a program assistant.
  • Shabbat shalom!

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Lit Links

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • On Tablet: a thoughtful piece by Marjorie Ingall that pleads for a bit more subject-diversity in Jewish books for children.
  • This month’s Jewish Book Carnival is hosted over on Jodie Books. Check it out.
  • One of the links I discovered in the aforementioned Carnival: Deborah Kalb’s Q&A with Shulem Deen, whose memoir All Who Go Do Not Return I’m seeing mentioned everywhere and I’m looking forward to reading soon.
  • ICYMI: My midweek post on Practicing Writing had some things to say about Yom HaShoah.
  • Fig Tree Books published its second book this week: a re-issue of Meyer Levin’s classic Compulsion. Read Adam Kirsch’s take.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

    “But it’s Thursday,” you’re saying!

    That is correct. But since I will be in transit to Minneapolis tomorrow–and since many folks will be heading offline for the concluding weekend of Pesach fairly soon, I figured I’d post early this week.

  • I’m currently reading Michal Lemberger’s After Abel and Other Stories, an extraordinary collection that spotlights women’s experiences in the Bible. (If you liked The Red Tent, this book is for you.) Check out the author’s conversation with Deborah Kalb for some more info.
  • Check out the latest links on American Jewish Experience (AJE) over on the Fig Tree Books blog. (My own favorite is the five-year Jewish-holiday calendar from the URJ.)
  • Speaking of Fig Tree Books, this week I was a guest on The Next Best Book Club blog, touting three upcoming releases.
  • ICYMI: a Passover poem & its postscript.
  • Finally, you’ve got some time (but not much) if you’d like to submit poems for Poetry Super Highway’s 17th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Issue. Deadline is Friday. (NB: This is not a paying opportunity. But when it comes to Holocaust-related writing, I’m personally a lot more flexible on my own “must-be-paid-for-my-work” rule.)
  • See you all next week.

    Pre-Shabbat (and Pre-Pesach) Jewish Lit Links

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Truly one of the most exciting news items that crossed my screen this week: Kevin Haworth’s announcement regarding his contract to write a book on Israeli comics artist Rutu Modan.
  • The week also brought a new issue of JewishFiction.Net, featuring work by Isaac Babel, Thane Rosenbaum, Rebecca Klempner, and many others.
  • Now that I’ve finished reading one Jewishly-inflected poetry collection (Lesléa Newman’s I Carry My Mother), it’s time to begin another one: Jehanne Dubrow’s The Arranged Marriage, reviewed this week by Judy Bolton-Fasman for The Forward‘s “The Sisterhood” blog.
  • Over on the Fig Tree Books website, Dinah Fay has contributed a new discussion of Amy Bloom’s Away.
  • “TC Jewfolk is seeking a highly motivated self-starter with experience and passion for blogging, managing writers, and community journalism to be the Editor for TC Jewfolk. This role is a paid, part-time position, with great flexibility. The primary office for this position is located at the Sabes JCC in St. Louis Park, MN.
  • Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Pesach Sameach!

    From My Bookshelf: Lesléa Newman’s I CARRY MY MOTHER

    Earlier this year, I shared one line from a poem by Lesléa Newman (“Sitting Shiva,” which I’d discovered thanks to Keshet/MyJewishLearning.com) as a “Sunday Sentence” on the Practicing Writing blog. Simultaneously, I ordered a copy of the collection in which that poem appears, I Carry My Mother, in which the poet recounts her mother’s dying and her own grief. But it took me until this week to sit down and actually read the book.

    It is a searing collection. I dare anyone to read it without shedding tears at least once. (Maybe I suspected that would be the case, and maybe I needed some time to steel myself before engaging with the full collection.)

    It is also a remarkably instructive volume for anyone interested in the practice of poetry. And since April is National Poetry Month, it seems appropriate to comment on this quality. (more…)