Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • Thanks to the Jewish Book Council for taking note of the Sophie Brody Medal news in its latest JLit Links post! (By the way, for a response to the kidlit link included in that post, see The PJ Library.)
  • And speaking of kids’ books: Marjorie Ingall writes about Holocaust books for children.
  • And still more about Jewish kidlit: ‘Tis the season for the Sydney Taylor Book Award interviews. Get to know some award-winning authors and illustrators February 5-10.
  • The American Jewish Historical Society has redesigned its website. I hope to spend some time exploring it soon.
  • Finally, a reading rec from my mom. She just finished reading The Arrogant Years, the new memoir from Lucette Lagnado, and she LOVED it. I haven’t read it yet, but I did think Lagnado’s previous book, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, was pretty terrific.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Words of the Week: Paul Auster

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Whatever the Prime Minister might think about the state of Israel, the fact is that free speech exists there and no writers or journalists are in jail. According to the latest numbers gathered by International PEN, there are nearly one hundred writers imprisoned in Turkey, not to speak of independent publishers such as Ragip Zarakolu, whose case is being closely watched by PEN Centers around the world. All countries are flawed and beset by myriad problems, Mr. Prime Minister, including my United States, including your Turkey, and it is my firm conviction that in order to improve conditions in our countries, in every country, the freedom to speak and publish without censorship or the threat of imprisonment is a sacred right for all men and women.

    Paul Auster, in response to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Source: The New York Times.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • Two fabulous Twitter book club titles coming up from the Jewish Book Council: in February, Anna Solomon’s The Little Bride; in March, Nathan Englander’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.
  • Tablet summarizes all the latest Jewish book award news (and then some).
  • Author Rachel Kadish writes about Hala Salah Eldin Hussein, an editor/translator in Cairo, “and the connection we’ve forged through working together.”
  • Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
  • Pleased and grateful to receive two gifts–both inscribed–in the mail this week: William C. Donahue’s Holocaust as Fiction: Bernhard Schlink’s Nazi Novels and Their Films, and Anthony Levin’s House of the Collective Unconscious, a new poetry collection.
  • If you haven’t yet seen Andrew Lustig’s remarkable video piece on “What It Means to Be a Jew,” you must.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    QUIET AMERICANS Is a Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

    I learned some amazing news last night via Google Alert: Quiet Americans has been named a 2012 Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title. The Sophie Brody recognition is deeply meaningful, because it “is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature.”

    I may have more to say once the news sinks in. For now, I’ll just quote from the announcement. And say “THANK YOU!” to the judges.

    “‘Quiet Americans: Stories’ by Erika Dreifus (Last Light Studio Books): This little book of short stories is a gem that anyone can read and enjoy. Its straightforward writing and understandable stories about German Jews and their descendants bring us into the everyday lives of Jewish Americans. Some stories are interrelated, but they stand alone in their own right.”

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
  • Zeek has published the winning poems from the latest Anna Davidson Rosenberg Prize for Poetry on the Jewish Experience. On her blog, first-prize winner Jehanne Dubrow explains: “One of the really nice things about this award is that it includes both a monetary award AND publication. Of course, I should add that any prize also serves as encouragement, a little push to keep the writer writing. These prose poems come from my manuscript-in-progress, The Arranged Marriage, which has certainly received plenty of little pushes lately. I will keep writing.”
  • The Yiddish Book Center introduces its new Academic Director, Joshua Lambert.
  • The latest winner of Israel’s Sapir Prize for Literature is Haggai Linik.
  • On the Image journal blog, Rick Chess offers a beautiful and personal meditation inspired by Jacob and Esau.
  • Delighted to discover this interview with Joan Leegant on the Fiction Writers Review website.
  • Presenting the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Awards’ winning, honor, and notable titles. (“The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Pasadena, California this June.”)

    • Shabbat shalom!