November Jewish Book Carnival

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

It’s mid-November, and you know what that means….

It’s time for the monthly Jewish Book Carnival!

This month’s Carnival is hosted by JewishBoston.com, and David Levy has done a lovely job highlighting the fact that next month’s Carnival will be hosted by yours truly. I’m looking forward to it!

In the meantime, however, do check out all of the interesting Jewish lit links at the JewishBoston.com Carnival post.

Nonfiction Contest: New Writing on the Old World

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

As you may know, on my other blog, I limit contest announcements to competitions that do not charge entry fees. For contests interested in specifically Jewish content, however, there’s a more limited pool of information to share, so I (reluctantly) expand listings to fee-charging programs.

Here’s a new one to share with you:

The Summer Literary Seminars SLS Jewish Lithuania/Litvak Experiences Program is pleased to announce a new non-fiction contest: East-European Roots: New Writing on the Old World, held this year in affiliation with Tablet Magazine, an online magazine providing a “new take on Jewish life”, and judged by Philip Lopate.

The theme for the contest is Eastern European Histories: people’s roots and ancestral heritage.

The contest winner will have their work prominently featured online in Tablet Magazine. Additionally, they will receive free airfare, tuition, and housing to our 2011 SLS Jewish Lithuania/Litvak Experiences Program.

Second-place winners will receive a full tuition waiver for the 2011 SLS Jewish Lithuania/Litvak Experiences Program, and third-place winners will receive a 50% tuition discount.

A number of select contest participants, based on the overall strength of their work, will be offered tuition scholarships, as well, applicable to the 2011 SLS Jewish Lithuania/Litvak Experiences Program. Read the full guidelines.

Note that there is a $15 application fee, and the application deadline is March 15, 2011.

Good luck to anyone who enters this competition!

Notes from Around the Web

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • Robert Lee Brewer’s interview with poet (and former Hebrew school teacher) Erika Meitner–and Meitner’s poem, “1944,” that Brewer included with the interview material–persuaded me to order a copy of Meitner’s latest book, Ideal Cities.
  • Speaking of poetry, I am very grateful for “Cut the Challah, but Slice it Slant: A Response to the ZEEK Poetry Manifesto.” Thank you, Zackary Sholem Berger!
  • Over on HTMLGIANT, “a literature blog that isn’t always about literature,” author Kyle Minor, raised as a self-described fundamentalist Christian, explains why he is “Jealous of the Jews.” Hint: Roth, Bellow, Malamud, Ozick, and at least one of the Singers have something to do with it.
  • Chanukah is coming! And the Jewish Literary Review prepares us with some poetry.
  • My latest pre-publication post about my forthcoming story collection, Quiet Americans, takes this week’s anniversary of the Kristallnacht to reflect on that event in my own poetry and prose.

    • Notes from Around the Web

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • The latest Tablet column from Josh Lambert lists a number of new Holocaust-related book releases.
  • Also on Tablet: an interview with Janis Bellow on the occasion of the publication of Saul Bellow: Letters.
  • Bill Clinton calls for Yitzhak Rabin’s work to be completed.
  • I probably won’t be revisiting any of Jean-Luc Godard’s films anytime soon.
  • On a similarly depressing note: This Jewish Ideas Daily article presents the dismal situation Israel faces within the United Nations.
  • Some personal reflections on the latest Jewish Book Council Twitter Book Club, and connections between Julie Orringer’s The Invisible Bridge and my own forthcoming story collection, Quiet Americans.
  • The Association of Jewish Libraries has issued a Call for Applicants for a seat on the Sydney Taylor Book Awards Committee. Deadline: December 1, 2010.
  • Linda K. Wertheimer shares two thoughtful essays on the motivations behind her writing over on the Jewish Muse blog.
  • Sherri Mandell is the most recent first-prize winner of the Moment/Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest. Her winning story is “Jerusalem Stone.”

    • Shabbat shalom, everyone!