Whatever the reason, I can’t understand why some writers seem so intent on distancing their work from being identified as “Jewish.” That they do so while simultaneously benefiting from the “label” and showing no evidence of suffering from any career-stultifying “ghettoization” only adds salt to the wound.
From an essay of mine just published on JewishJournal.com.
Shabbat shalom.
I’ve been wondering what was happening with the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards for Poems on the Jewish Experience. I routinely enter (and lose) this competition, and it seems to have a spring deadline. I wasn’t finding any updates online for this year’s contest, and then, lo and behold, an email message arrived this morning.
The message was from Michal Mahgerefteh, publisher/editor of Poetica Magazine, Contemporary Jewish Writing and Art, and it informed me that the 2013 competition is being administered by the magazine.
The contest is open to all writers, irrespective of ethnicity or religious affiliation. Poems should address “Jewish Experience.” There’s no entry fee, and the deadline for 2013 is November 15. “Total prize money of $3000 will be distributed between 1-3 places and honorable mentions.”
You can find full guidelines here.
Thanks to Ms. Mahgerefteh for contacting me.
Shabbat shalom.
These days, we attend more closely to the role of our biblical matriarchs. But while Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel occupy the spotlight, most of us haven’t thought much about another female antecedent: Noah’s wife.
As I mentioned here recently, Rebecca Kanner’s new novel, “Sinners and the Sea,” imagines the experiences of that woman. I recently had the opportunity to interview Kanner, who is based in Minneapolis, for The Forward‘s Sisterhood blog.