Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat
Shabbat shalom!
Prize for Essay on Philip Roth’s Work
“The Philip Roth Society invites submissions from graduates working on any aspect of the work of Philip Roth for consideration for the Siegel/McDaniel Award. The Siegel/McDaniel Award is an annual prize awarded in recognition of high-quality work by graduate students in the field of Roth studies written in the past year (ending June 1).”
There’s no entry fee indicated. Prize confers cash award of $250. Deadline: September 1, 2011.
Yiddish Book Center Plans Translation Conference
From the Yiddish Book Center:
The Yiddish Book Center and the Fund for Translation of Jewish Literature are proud to announce a working conference entitled, “Translating Yiddish Literature: Mobilizing a New Generation.” The event will take place at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA on Saturday evening, November 12, and Sunday, November 13, 2011. Established and aspiring translators, publishers, students and scholars are invited to attend.
This conference comes at a moment of great urgency and promise. Less than two percent of Yiddish literature has been translated to date, and despite recent efforts (such as the New Yiddish Library), at the current rate it will be another 25,000 years before all Yiddish titles are accessible to English readers.
The goal of the conference, therefore, is to spark a concerted, all-out effort to translate the best of Yiddish literature into English.
For the program and other information, visit the conference webpage. NB: “Limited travel subsidies” are available (apply by September 20).
From My Bookshelf: Habibi & Yow, by Althea O. Silverman
The other day, mulling over a possible short story idea, I needed to know how Jewish-American families celebrated a certain Jewish holiday a couple of generations ago. Had the celebrations changed over time, and if so, how? Along with the websites and scholarly books I consulted, I turned to one very special resource: a battered copy of Althea O. Silverman’s Habibi and Yow: A Little Boy and His Dog.
My copy of Habibi and Yow isn’t really mine. First published in 1946 by Bloch Publishing Company (“The Jewish Book Concern”), the book went into a second printing in 1948. That’s the printing that produced the copy that belonged to my father when he was a little boy. It remained in my grandparents’ home once my father was grown.
Since my grandparents didn’t own many books, I spent innumerable childhood hours first listening to my grandmother read me the stories about this little American Jewish boy and his dog, and then reading them to myself. Habibi and Yow provided some of my earliest introductions to the ideas, history, and customs surrounding Shabbat (“Shabbos,” in Habibi and Yow), Purim, and Shavuot (“Shavuos”), among other holidays.
As an adult, I’ve been interested to learn that Althea O. Silverman wrote other books, including one about Habibi’s Adventures in the Land of Israel, which was published in 1951. Her husband, Rabbi Morris Silverman, served a Conservative Hartford, Conn., congregation for nearly 40 years. According to Shuly Rubin Schwartz’s The Rabbi’s Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life, Althea Silverman was “deeply concerned about the dearth of appealing Jewish educational materials for children.” Habibi and Yow helped address that need. I, for one, remain grateful.
Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat
Shabbat shalom, everyone.