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.

• “Awards were presented at the 45th Annual Simon Rockower Awards Banquet held in conjunction with the American Jewish Press Association’s 2026 Annual Conference, on June 4, 2026, in New York, New York.” Mazal tov to the honorees, whose names and winning works you can find listed here. I’ll also add a note—routine insofar as I’ve mentioned it when amplifying these awards in the past—that although much among the awarded material is staff-created, freelancers’ names appear here, too; the award info can thus be used as resource/research document regarding freelancer-friendly outlets.
• Call for submissions: “The Academy for Jewish Religion will be publishing a supplement to the upcoming holiday of TuB’av. We are calling for submissions of short pieces, drashot, poems, prayers, and artwork (in png format only). We are proud to note that this volume will be our sixth in AJR’s series of supplements edited by Dr. Ora Horn Prouser and Rabbi Menachem Creditor.” Deadline: June 24. No payment indicated; no fee to submit.
• Noted this week: “As it does every year, the National Library of Israel has issued its annual book report in advance of Hebrew Book Week, which presents publishing data of books printed in Israel. The data in this year’s report reflects many changes that have taken place in the publishing sector in Israel in 2025. Among the most prominent trends is the steady return to routine after the sharp downturn in publishing that followed the October 7 massacre and the early months of the war.” This year’s report includes a special section about post-October 7 publishing trends, including data on October 7-focused books in Israel and globally.
• “I do not expect you to agree with me. I do hope, however, that you will consider how these sections of the novel may read to Jewish readers like myself—readers who watched the atrocities of October 7 unfold, who have seen antisemitism surge around the world in its aftermath, and who increasingly encounter cultural figures willing to repeat fashionable narratives while ignoring uncomfortable facts.” From Dena Tauber’s “Letter to Elizabeth Strout.”
• “You might ask why you should care about an issue of a literary magazine most Canadians have never heard of. I’d argue that it’s a barometer of where we are as a literary community and as a society more broadly. Ms. Orang’s project rests on a series of moral and political assumptions. That a writer in Canada can pitch an editor on an issue of a magazine whose purpose, at least in part, is to lend intellectual cover for the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, and not be dismissed out of hand. That the editor will believe that approving this issue will not lead to a revolt by the people who work at the magazine or imperil its taxpayer funding. That there will be enough writers in Canada and elsewhere to contribute writing of sufficient quality to make this thing possible. And that, once published, the issue will be received by readers and members of the Canadian literary community as a legitimate endeavour.” From David Bezmozgis’s recent column in The Globe & Mail (also available in full, via screenshots, on Bezmozgis’s Facebook page).

Wishing everyone a Shabbat shalom.