Erika Dreifus

• Thoughtful (and, unsurprisingly, poetic) reflections by Philip Terman on “Writing Jewish,” published by the Jewish Book Council.
• Also wonderfully thoughtful: Michelle Cameron’s presentation of her latest novel, Beyond the Ghetto Gates (an historical novel set in late-eighteenth-century Italy) for the Book of Life’s “Books in the Time of Coronavirus” series.
• This week brought publication of an absolute stunner of a short story: Zeeva Bukai’s “Salt-Sea,” which won The Masters Review‘s 2019 Fall Fiction Contest. In the words of judge Anita Felicelli: “Set against Israeli army life in the Judean Desert, this luminous story excavates both the brutal and the soulful with equal attention. The beautiful, hypnotic voice of the lonely narrator tells us an atmospheric story of how an intimate friendship between women soldiers unravels in the face of unrequited longing. Events that might have been simply tragic in the hands of a less thoughtful writer are complicated by a profound ending. The story’s exquisite craft and artful observation conjure sex and birth and death and the earth itself, hinting at eternal return.” Read it!
• Speaking of short stories: I’ve bookmarked this Yom HaAtzmaut item from JewishFiction.net, highlighting some Israeli work.
• And icym this announcement: I’ll be reading from Birthright in the company of two other wonderful writers (Ellen Meeropol and Sandell Morse) in a virtual event hosted by Literary Modiin on May 31. Please register and join us! (There’s no charge.)

Shabbat shalom.