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.

• Open for (free!) registration: the next Jewish Authors’ Summit hosted by 70 Faces Media. Among the topics to be addressed at the virtual event in October: “The Growth of Jewish Publishing Avenues,” “Writing About Israel and Israeli Characters Today,” and “Introduction to Writing Jewish Memoir.”
• “The Association of Jewish Libraries has announced its Fall 2026 Holiday Highlights list of eleven titles, the best new Jewish children’s books about Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Hanukkah, selected by a panel of children’s literature experts.” Check The Jewish Book Garden for details, links, and a lovely cover-image illustration.
• “As editors of New York Magazine dug in their heels this week, defending the magazine’s viral ‘Habibi City’ package published earlier this month, 14 Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish organizations delivered an open letter on Monday night, accusing the magazine of erasing Middle Eastern Jews from its coverage.” As Simone Saidmehr reports for the Forward, the magazine’s editor-in-chief has invited the group for a meeting. (Note that the linked open letter appears to be open for additional organizational signatures.)
• In “You Don’t Have to Wait for Permission,” a Substack post about her newly self-published novel, Sophie Panzer reflects on “the Jewish joy of indie publishing.”
• And as is so often the case, it’s been quite a week for podcasts. Among some notable episodes I’ve caught: Haviv Rettig Gur’s conversation with British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore about the latter’s new book (as you may recall, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East, out in the United States late next month, is among the books I’m anticipating this season); an audio version, via the Hartman Institute’s Identity/Crisis, of a conversation (moderated by Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen, host of the podcast The Five Books, with guests Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of Jewish Book Council and Lauren Wein, Vice President and Editorial Director of Avid Reader Press at Simon & Schuster), that first appeared in print in the Summer 2026 issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas and delves into “the introspection and urgency driving Jewish writers to navigate questions of identity, trauma, Zionism, and community in the years since October 7”; and Bill Kolbrener’s latest appearance on Morning Mayhem with Howard Feldman, discussing “why is it important for Jewish communities to have platforms where they can express themselves and amplify Jewish voices?” (and kindly giving me a shoutout in the process!).

Shabbat shalom.