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.

  • Publishers Weekly has given a starred review to Jason K. Friedman’s short-story collection, Fire Year, which won the Sarabande Press Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction. Here’s the review’s first line: “These seven funny, fearless outsiders’ tales set in Savannah and Atlanta—some depicting bygone orthodox Jewish communities, others the rife-with-irony “New South”—gravitate toward taboo.” The book will be published in November. (h/t Racelle Rosett)
  • Over on Tablet, Marjorie Ingall recommends three Jewish biographies (ostensibly for children) that “are so unabashedly fabulous, such a perfect blend of writing and art, so good at explaining complicated subjects, so inspiring without being sappy, you need to stop what you’re doing and buy them all right now.”
  • An exemplary “negative review”Michael Berenbaum’s sage and sensitive analysis of BDS advocate Alice Walker’s latest book. (On a related note: my reaction to the news that the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women had rescinded an invitation for Walker to address its 50th-anniversary celebration gathering.)
  • On Bloomberg.com, Manuela Hoelterhoff takes readers through what Laurie Muchnick calls “surprising tour of novels and memoirs about the Nazi period.”
  • The Forward‘s “The Sisterhood” blog is asking readers for brief submissions (up to 200 words) to include in a larger package on the role of Jewish women in mourning. Submission deadline is August 28. Details and submission form provided here. (NB: This is a nonpaying opportunity.)

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Book Carnival: Call for Submissions

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    jbcsmallIf you follow the My Machberet blog, you may recall that every month, the blog and I participate in the Jewish Book Carnival. Organized by the Association of Jewish Libraries, the Carnival is a monthly online event “where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read and comment on each others’ posts.”

    Each month’s Carnival posts on or about the 15th of the month, and different bloggers volunteer to serve as hosts. I’m proud to announce that the September 2013 Jewish Book Carnival–which will be the first Carnival of the new Jewish year 5774–will be hosted here on My Machberet.

    New contributors are welcome! Please take a look at past Carnivals to get a sense of the posts that are featured. (Authors who blog–please note that we do not feature posts in which authors blog about their own books.)

    If you’re interested in participating, please send the link to your selected contribution to me no later than Thursday, September 12 (earlier is better!). I look forward to hearing from you.

    Words of the Week: Ban Ki-moon

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    UNimage“Unfortunately, because of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, Israel’s been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination,” Ban told the group, YNet reported. He was responding to a student who claimed Israelis felt their country was discriminated against at the UN.

    “It’s an unfortunate situation,” Ban said, adding that Israel should be treated equal to all the other 192 member states.

    Source: Ben Harris, quoting The Times of Israel, “Ban in Jerusalem” (do read Harris’s piece in full), JTA.org.

    UPDATE: Looks as though Ban Ki-moon may be backtracking–which is also “an unfortunate situation.”

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

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

  • From London: new audio recordings from the 2013 Jewish Book Week festival. Listen to sessions that featured Shani Boianjiu, Edith Pearlman, Francesca Segal and Jami Attenberg, Laurent Binet, and many others.
  • Also from Britain: B.J. Epstein acquaints us with Into the Light: The Medieval Hebrew Poetry of Meir of Norwich for Wales Arts Review.
  • Back in the U.S.A., The Forward brings together authors Joanna Hershon and Adelle Waldman and asks them, among other questions, “What are your thoughts about being a Jewish writer?”
  • Lots of Jewish-lit info in the August Jewish Book Carnival, hosted by Leora Wenger.
  • On the Jewesses with Attitude blog, Miriam Cantor-Stone writes a letter to the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein.

    • Shabbat shalom, everyone.

    Words of the Week: David Horovitz

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    “Only Israel could be pressured by the free world to release convicted killers before the ends of their sentences (something that the US, UK and others would not dream of doing), agree to do so at the start rather than the culmination of peace negotiations, and still wind up looking like the bad guy the next morning.”

    Source: David Horovitz, “The Worst of Both Worlds,” The Times of Israel, August 14, 2013.