Erika Dreifus

• Mazal tov to all of the authors and translators who have been named finalists for the current (fiction-focused) cycle of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Per the press release, the winner will be announced in May. (I’ve read all of the shortlisted books—have you?)
• For its first-ever short fiction contest, Hey Alma is “looking for previously unpublished Jewish short stories…of any genre. Emerging and established writers are all welcome to submit. Finalists will be selected by the staff of Hey Alma, and the winner will be chosen by guest judge T Kira Madden.” Prize: “The winner will be published on Hey Alma this spring and awarded a $250 honorarium (and a Hey Alma sweatshirt for good measure).” There is no entry fee. Deadline: April 24.
• The Jerusalem Post has announced that Avi Mayer will be its next editor-in-chief.
• From the National Library of Israel: “In honor of the 75th year of the State of Israel, the National Library, in collaboration with Israel Hayom, has launched a project to collect personal diaries from the time of the establishment of the state for the purpose of depositing them in its collections for the benefit of future generations. The Library seeks to be a repository for the personal diaries of the men and women of the nation’s founding generation with the aim of creating a unique historical collection.”
• As we near the April release of a film adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Emily Schneider takes a close look at how the 1970 novel “broke taboos around interfaith marriage.”

Shabbat shalom.