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Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

UnAmericansAnother Sunday when I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

So, as always, he gave the shorthand: he’d never known his father, he had no siblings, his mother had passed away when he was twenty-one.

Source: Molly Antopol, “Retrospective,” in The UnAmericans

I know I’m not supposed to comment, but I have to say that once again, I found myself reading a book (The UnAmericans) filled with so many remarkable sentences–remarkable in such a variety of ways–that I had a lot of trouble choosing just one.

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Via JewishFiction.Net: a Purim-related excerpt from the forthcoming translation (by Jeffrey M. Green) of Aharon Appelfeld’s Suddenly, Love.
  • Publishers Weekly interviews Boris Fishman, whose debut novel A Replacement Life I am looking forward to reading.
  • Not sure how long this discount will last, but you can currently register for The Whole Megillah Seminar on Jewish Story for $99.
  • Interesting story from Tablet on Halban, “the best little Jewish publishing house in London.”
  • New Moment magazine contest, “Become a Senior Critic,” invites book and movie reviews from those 70+. Prizes: publication & gift subscriptions. Enter by August 1.

    • Shabbat shalom & chag Purim!

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Aciman & McCann on Teaching Writing

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Last week I finished the day at my office job and headed south several blocks to the CUNY Graduate Center to sit in on a lively conversation on “Art & Craft: Teaching Writing.”

    The event was billed as follows: “Next in the series of Chancellor’s Conversations, highlighting the work of CUNY faculty, Interim Chancellor Bill Kelly speaks with two of contemporary literature’s most distinctive stylists. André Aciman of the Graduate Center is the author of seven books, including the novels Harvard Square and Eight White Nights and the acclaimed memoir Out of Egypt. Colum McCann of Hunter College is the author of eight books, including Transatlantic and Zoli; his novel Let the Great World Spin was awarded the 2009 National Book Award for Fiction.”

    It was a vibrant discussion, likely to interest anyone who thinks about creative-writing pedagogy (student, teacher, alum) as well as fans of the speakers. And I’m happy to say that video from the event is already available to share. (Now I just need to add it to the Creative Writing at CUNY website that I help manage at the day job!)

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