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.

NB: Since I’m still in something of “catch-up” mode, this week’s set of links is a bit “meatier” than usual.

• Under the general category of commentaries on this moment in Jewish writing and books, I’m going to group a few recent items: William Kolbrener argues that while Israeli artists and writers “are not waiting for an invitation,” they are still telling their stories (including in Balagan, the literary magazine he co-founded with Ronit Eitan); Maia Evrona makes a case for an increase in direct financial support for Jewish writers; and Sources features a compelling conversation on “Today’s American Jewish Writers and Readers,” complete with a reading list.
• Last week, in place of these links, I shared a compilation of current opportunities in the Jewish-writing/adjacent space. To those, I now bring to your attention a new fellowship in criticism and public scholarship for 2026-2027 (a collaboration between Jewish Review of Books and the Center for Jewish History in New York, with a deadline of July 31), and a part-time, remote position for a mar­ket­ing & social media coor­dinator to join Nu Reads, a bimonth­ly Jew­ish book sub­scrip­tion series curat­ed by Jew­ish Book Coun­cil (no deadline indicated).
• From Yetzirah: “If you weren’t able to join us [at the 2026 Jewish Poetry Conference], all of the readings, talks, and panels are now available for your viewing pleasure in our media archive.” (There are so many that I’m looking forward to catching asap!)
• Howard Jacobson’s name has appeared on My Machberet multiple times, most recently in connection with his latest novel, Howl. This week has brought, via Fathom, a fabulous interview with Jacobson, “a British Jewish novelist and journalist who has written more than twenty books, including seventeen novels, and won the Booker Prize for fiction.” This interview focuses on three of his novels: The Finkler Question (2010), J (2014) and Howl. Fathom spoke to him in early July. A transcript, video, and audio are all available.
• And I’ll conclude with a couple of items regarding children’s books. First, I’m very glad to have run across this update from the Am Yisrael Chai Children’s Book Project, which was launched in December 2023 “to help strengthen pride in and connection to Israel by gifting…books about Israel to children in North America.” And I’m guessing that the family of Orly Kochinski is kvelling upon publication of the 16-year-old’s piece as a winner The New York Times Learning Network’s Student Open Letter Contest. Kochinski’s topic? The inappropriate choice to assign The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in Kochinski’s own classroom.

Shabbat shalom.