Erika Dreifus

Toward the end of each week, the My Machberet blog presents a collection of links, drawn primarily from the world of Jewish books and writing.

• I’m looking forward to listening to the latest episode of The Book of Life podcast, which features Sarah Sassoon and her debut picture book Shoham’s Bangle (illustrated by Noa Kelner). As always, a transcript is available.
• “There was one last miraculous piece to this strange moment: of all the times when Germany could have made me a citizen, it did so exactly two weeks before the publication of my first book which is about granddaughters of the Holocaust still haunted today.” From an essay by Courtney Sender for Slate (which for me evokes memories of a [much older] essay about my own German-citizenship experience).
• Open for submissions (until March 31, for books published between September 1, 2022, and August 31, 2023): The Natan Notable Books Award. “Twice yearly, Natan selects a ​’Natan Notable Book,’ “a recen­t­­ly-published or about-to-be pub­lished non-fic­­tion title that will cat­alyze con­ver­sa­tions aligned with the themes of Natan’s grant­mak­ing: rein­vent­ing Jew­ish life and com­mu­ni­ty for the twen­­ty-first cen­tu­ry, shift­ing notions of indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive Jew­ish iden­ti­ty, the his­to­ry and future of Israel, and the evolv­ing rela­tion­ship between Israel and world Jewry. Natan Notable Book win­ners receive a Natan Notable Book seal and $5,000 for the author, marketing/​distribution coach­ing and pro­mo­tion from Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and Natan, and cus­tomized sup­port designed to bring the book and/​or the author to new audiences.” (Cross-posted in the March issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0.)
• Last week the Forward published a terrific profile of author Walter Mosley—featuring his Jewish background—by Beth Harpaz.
• ICYMI: Over on Twitter I shared some deeply concerning news (as reported by The Times of Israel, in this article and in this one) concerning the National Library of Israel. (If there have been updates since, I haven’t yet seen them.)

Shabbat shalom—and Happy Purim!