Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

On what appears to be a segment of an open Torah scroll, the words “Jewish Lit Links” appear.

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

  • The Jewish Book Council wants to know: What’s your favorite Jewish bookstore?
  • This week’s “Unorthodox” podcast features Stephanie Butnick’s conversation with author Gary Shteyngart. (Discussed: bagels, HIAS, Shteyngart’s latest novel, and more.)
  • Tent: Children’s Literature, is a weeklong retreat for emerging and midcareer writers and author-illustrators of board books, picture books, early chapter books, and middle-grade fiction. Participants spend a week at the Yiddish Book Center reading and writing, workshopping new projects, and talking about craft and the history of Jewish storytelling. The program offers intensive, multi-day workshops led by prominent critics and editors, as well as seminars on Jewish history, literature, and cultural materials, led by leading critics and scholars of children’s literature from around the country.” NB: “Every admitted participant receives a scholarship for the full cost of tuition, room, board, books, and special events, and also receives a travel stipend.” Application deadline: January 21, 2019.
  • In the aftermath of the Tree of Life attack, poet and professor Richard Chess has published some eloquent reflections. (And yes, I’ve added them to the lengthy Twitter thread that I mentioned here last week.)
  • I’ll be on the road this weekend (and into next week), and I’m taking along with me some pre-Hanukkah reading: Scott Hilton Davis’s Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik. (Scott was kind enough to give me a copy when we began working together to promote the upcoming English translation of Jacob Dinezon’s The Dark Young Man, to be published in February by Jewish Storyteller Press.)
  • I’ll leave you with the delightful brief video that Scott has created for the Hanukkah book. Shabbat shalom, and have a wonderful weekend.