Erika Dreifus

• The Jewish Book Council’s literary annual, Paper Brigade, is open for short-fiction submissions until February 1. “Submissions must be previously unpublished. Please send only one story at a time along with a $3 reading fee. Additional submissions will not be read. Stories will be considered for both print and Paper Brigade‘s digital arm, PB Daily. All authors will be paid for published work.”
• A call from Valerie Estelle Frankel: “I’m editing a series with Rowman & Littlefield/Lexington on a line of academic books critically analyzing elements of Jewish science fiction and fantasy (that’s the series title). As such, I’d love some authors with concepts to write about.” Via email, I learned that book authors will earn standard-for-the-press (8%) royalties. Anthology contributors, who are mentioned elsewhere in the call, receive no financial compensation.
• New-issue alert! The Winter 2020 issue of The Tel Aviv Review of Books is online.
• A sad update from Honeycake magazine.
• But we’ll end with some cheerier items from the world of Jewish kidlit: Lisa Silverman’s new list of “Twenty of the Best 2020 (Non-Holiday) Jewish Books for Kids”; Erica Perl’s “Diverse Picture Books that Showcase the Jewish Holidays”; and last (but definitely not least), Marjorie Ingall’s “What Makes a Good Hanukkah Picture Book?” (hint—it’s NOT Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf).

Shabbat shalom and chag sameach, everyone! And icymi: this is a great time of year to revisit “Fidelis,” my own short-story for NPR’s “Hanukkah Lights” broadcast.