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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.

  • Oh, what a find! Israeli authors reading from their books (with English captions/subtitles provided).
  • “But I’ll just say it unequivocally and then back off if need be: the most timeless, lasting novellas of the second half of the 20th century were written by Jewish novella-writers.” That’s Daniel Torday’s argument for The ProsenPeople. Read the post to see if Torday convinces you.
  • Fascinating piece by Kevin Haworth on the Michigan Quarterly Review website: “What Do People Do All Day? Palestinian Version.”
  • Bar-Ilan University in Israel is launching an M.A. program in English literature with a focus on literary translation. Curriculum includes literature, creative writing, Jewish studies, and translation.
  • “David Ehrlich is best known as the founder of Tmol Shilshom, a bookstore café in the heart of Jerusalem that has long been a popular gathering place for writers and artists. It’s named after the novel by S. Y. Agnon and has hosted readings by the leading lights of Israeli literature, from Yehuda Amichai to David Grossman, as well as renowned writers from abroad. Ehrlich is himself a writer, primarily of essays and short stories. Now Syracuse University Press has published Who Will Die Last: Stories of Life in Israel, the first collection of his stories to be translated into English.” Listen to one of those stories in this Vox Tablet podcast.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    From My Archives: Defining “Jewish Writing”

    by Erika Dreifus on
    5

    StarSome of my (ever-evolving) ruminations on how to define what makes a book “Jewish” stem from my own writing, especially my short-story collection, Quiet Americans, which is inspired largely by the experiences of my paternal grandparents, German Jews who immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. But I’ve also considered the subject more broadly (for some examples, please see “further reading” links at the end of this post).

    Helping me shape my thoughts along the way: a website I discovered thanks to one of the innumerable “Jewish newsletters” I subscribe to. At The 5 Legged Table, educator Avraham Infeld’s teachings frame a discussion of the question: What is being Jewish all about? The underlying principles impress me as applicable to a related question: What is a Jewish book all about?

    Briefly, the 5 Legged Table comprises the following elements: (more…)

    Wednesday’s WIP: Notes on Fallen Idols

    by Erika Dreifus on
    7

    1. I am unabashedly stealing the structure of this post from Daniel Nester, who is currently posting “99 Days of Notes” on his site. All last week, I was especially moved by the several Notes on Grief. You can find links to each post in the series and read all about the project right here.

    2. I’m hoping that this format will help me say something at least semi-cogent regarding Margo Rabb’s essay, “Fallen Idols,” which appeared in last Sunday’s New York Times Book Review.

    2a. Rabb’s essay evoked many thoughts, only some of which I’ll attempt to articulate here.

    2b. I’ve never met or corresponded with Margo Rabb, but I admire and have often recommended her short story “How to Tell a Story.”

    3. “Fallen Idols” essentially presents us with exemplary instances of disillusionment resulting from discoveries that esteemed authors have flaws.

    3a. The essay begins with Rabb’s own admiration for Rainer Maria Rilke; having Googled him, Rabb discovers enough to make her wonder, “How could the kind prophet whose lengthy passages I’d copied into my teenage diary be a selfish, sycophantic, womanizing rat?” (more…)

    Monday Markets for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Monday brings the weekly batch of no-fee competitions/contests, paying submission calls, and jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction).

  • “Jaggery, a DesiLit arts and literature journal, connects South Asian diasporic writers and homeland writers; we also welcome non-South Asians with a deep and thoughtful connection to South Asian countries, who bring their own intersecting perspectives to the conversation. (By South Asia we mean Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.) Our hope with Jaggery is to create a journal that offers the best writing by and about South Asians and their diaspora….We publish ART, ESSAYS, FICTION, POETRY, REVIEWS, and an advice column. We prefer original, previously unpublished submissions; we solicit reprints only in exceptional cases….We’re purchasing ongoing worldwide digital rights, for use in web and possible downloaded forms (ebook, PDF, etc.). Six months after publication, you may request to have your work removed from our online archive. We follow a blind submission review process and pay $25 for prose/poetry/art.” Hurry up if you’re interested: “The deadline for submissions for the inaugural issue is July 31st, 2013.” (via @Duotrope)
  • “Blank Fiction Magazine is currently accepting submissions for our first three issues! The themes for each are: Literary Fiction, Noir Fiction and Science Fiction.” Deadline for the first (literary fiction) issue is October 15. Pays: “Blank Fiction Magazine is proud to support all of our writers with a $50 honorarium for their contribution to our pages.”
  • “Soomo Publishing, an independent publisher of college-level webtexts, seeks experienced freelance writers to contribute original commentaries on world literature. Soomo is convinced that textbooks don’t have to be boring. With this in mind, we are looking for magazine feature-type commentaries to accompany important works of pre-Renaissance-era writing. The commentaries will be included in an online world literature course, and are intended to provide historical and cultural context that is both instructive and thought-provoking. Our goal is to capture students’ imagination and introduce them to the ‘stories behind the stories.’ In terms of voice, our models include Smithsonian magazine, Wilson Quarterly, and Mental Floss’s’101 Masterpieces’ series–in short, anything that makes culture relevant, stimulating, and accessible.” Pays: “Commentaries are being assigned at 1,500 words, at a rate of $0.50/word.”
  • As announced in its latest newsletter: “Creative Nonfiction is looking for new instructors for its online classes. Responsibilities include creating written lectures, reading and responding to student work, engaging in online discussion, and answering student questions on a daily basis.”
  • Coming soon! More no-fee writing contests and paying calls for prose and poetry in the August issue of The Practicing Writer, which will go out to subscribers before week’s end. Get your copy right in your e-mailbox. It’s free, and we don’t sell, rent, or share our mailing list.
  • Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, N.C.) is looking for an Assistant Publicist.

    • Sunday Sentence Debut

    by Erika Dreifus on
    1

    TPR-205Oh, what a creature of habit I am. I try to adhere to a nice, structured blogging schedule, and weekend Practicing Writing posts aren’t part of it.

    But today I have to break with routine and 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, without further ado:

    “I breathed in the night air that was or was not laced with anachronistic blossoms and felt the small thrill I always felt to a lesser or greater degree when I looked at Manhattan’s skyline and the innumerable illuminated windows and the liquid sapphire and ruby of traffic on the FDR Drive and the present absence of the towers.”

    –from “False Spring” by Ben Lerner, in The Paris Review (Summer 2013)