Erika Dreifus

• In which our #JewishBookMonth reading challenge is cited—and suggestions to complete it via Jewish kidlit are provided.
• Open for submissions: Paper Brigade, the annual print literary journal of Jewish Book Council, is open for submissions of original fiction and poetry (with a submissions fee) and nonfiction and translations (no fee) until February 1, 2023. Check the detailed guidelines for their specific interests. Payment: “All authors will be paid for published work,” but amounts are not specified. (Quick reminder: For the Practicing Writing blog and Practicing Writer newsletter I share only fee-free opportunities that also pay, the pool of Jewish writing opportunities is so much smaller that I am willing to relax those criteria on My Machberet.)
• Over at Poetry NI+ (NI stands for “Northern Ireland”), there’s a call for poetry ahead of the international Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27). “We are looking for poems in memorial, in protest, reflecting or looking forward, poems that lament but also inspire that tie in with the theme of Ordinary People: perpetrators as ordinary people, persecuted people as ordinary people, rescuers as ordinary people, and ordinary people as bystanders. All accepted poems will be published in a free downloadable e-pamphlet, to be released on HMD 2023.” The deadline is December 18; no payment is mentioned.
• New prize: “In honor of the digitization of the YIVO Yiddish Folk Song Project, which was designed by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (aka Brayndl), Inside the Yiddish Folksong announces an annual prize for an essay that analyzes the performance and/or transmission of the Yiddish folksong. The YYFP blazed new trails in this field 50 years ago. Rising interest in the topic inspired our group to encourage new thinking with this prize. Essays should be 6,000–10,000 words and be submitted by May 1, 2023. The Brayndl Prize consists of a $100 cash award, an historic Jewish cookbook from the BKG collection,” and publication.
• A timely cover reveal, courtesy of Jewish Book Council—and some recent writing by the book’s author that I found online.

Shabbat shalom.