Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on
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an open book (with Hebrew pages visible); subtitle reads "Jewish Literary Links"
Image by Yedidia Klein from Pixabay

Toward the end of each week, the My Machberet blog presents a collection of links, drawn primarily from the world of Jewish books and writing.

  • Jewish writers need some help—and Michelle Cameron has crowd-sourced some suggestions regarding how to provide it.
  • Although it’s geared toward school settings, Liza Wiemer’s expert tips on “how to handle antisemitic incidents” apply to other settings—including literary ones.
  • If I were a member of the UK-based Society of Authors, I’d surely follow the administration’s recommendations to vote against Resolution #3 at this upcoming meeting. And if I hadn’t let my dues lapse at AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs), I’d sign on to this effort from Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry to create “a new caucus for Jewish writers at AWP. After what was for many a challenging experience at AWP’s annual conference in Kansas City, providing a space in which Jewish writers of all genres can come together and be in community at future conferences, as well as share suggestions and concerns with the AWP leadership, feels especially vital. We need signatures to show support for this proposal (you don’t need to be Jewish, of course, just a member of AWP) and I’m hoping you might consider signing. And please feel free to share and help get the word out! ” (Quoted with permission from a post by Yetzirah’s founder/president/executive director Jessica Jacobs in a private Facebook group.)
  • In a similar vein (encompassed within: the aforementioned AWP conference), Maxim Shrayer surveys “Poetry After October 7th.”
  • And icymi: You’ll find some explicitly “Jewish” opportunities in the latest issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0, including upcoming deadlines for the Natan Notable Books program (April 26) and the Rabbi Sacks Book Prize (May 1).

Reminder: 181 days later, I continue to update the “After October 7: Readings, Recordings, and More” document-in-progress. Check also cautionary information (also in-progress), compiled under the title “Writers, Beware.”

Shabbat shalom.

Words of the Week: Benny Morris

by Erika Dreifus on
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“To many on the left, Mr. Morris says, ‘I seem to have turned anti-Palestinian in the year 2000,’ when Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton offered a two-state solution and Yasser Arafat rejected it. ‘I thought this was a terrible decision by the Palestinians, and I wrote that.’ When the Palestinians, in response to the offer of peace and statehood, then launched a wave of terrorism and suicide bombings unlike any before it, Mr. Morris disapproved of that, too. ‘I began to write journalism against the Palestinians, their decisions and policies,’ he says, ‘and this was considered treachery.’

Mr. Morris was suddenly out of step ‘because people always forgive the Palestinians, who don’t take responsibility,’ he says. ‘It’s accepted that they are the victim and therefore can do whatever they like.’ Mr. Morris doesn’t contest the claim of victimhood but sees it on both sides. ‘Righteous Victims’ is the title of his 1999 history of the conflict.

Source: Benny Morris, quoted in Elliot Kaufman, “History Goes to War in the Holy Land” (Wall Street Journal).

Markets and Jobs for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
0
Background of a keyboard, mug of coffee, and wallet on a tabletop; text label indicating "Markets and Jobs for Writers: No fees to submit work/apply. Paying gigs only."

Each week in this space, Practicing Writing shares no-fee, paying markets for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: competitions, contests, and calls for submissions. These weekly posts complement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you’ll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province. (But this blog does share those more localized opportunities, including jobs.)

As always, if you’d like to share a specific opportunity listed here, please credit the blog for the find. Thanks for respecting the time and effort that I put into researching, curating, and posting this information! I do notice, and I appreciate the courtesy.

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#SundaySentence

by Erika Dreifus on
0

Every weekend I participate in David Abrams’s “#SundaySentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

“That doesn’t mean some are not still in exile.”

Source: Joan Leegant, “The Baghdadi” (in Displaced Persons: Stories [forthcoming])

Finds for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
0
Description: closed trunk and text label announcing, "Finds for Writers."
Image of a wooden trunk, with text label that reads, “Finds for Writers” beside it

Each week (typically Fridays), the Practicing Writing blog offers writing and publishing resources, news, and reflections to peruse over the weekend.

  • Small Press Distribution has shut down. The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) is holding an emergency meeting today (Friday) to address this.
  • “It’s finally happened. After days, weeks, months, or even years of waiting you finally see the email you’ve been dreaming of — an agent you’ve queried wants to offer you representation!” But then what do you do? Read Kasey LeBlanc’s “What to Do After Receiving an Offer of Representation: A Comprehensive Action Plan” on Writer Unboxed to find out.
  • What I can’t help noting within the Poetry Foundation’s “A Commitment to Clarity” statement (published this week): I’d have significantly more faith in their simultaneously expressed commitments (which are repeated in embedded pages/policies) against hate speech/racism if they were not, from the first paragraph, linking to vicious examples (and evidently trying to appease purveyors) of such.
  • “A Q&A with Joanna Chen about her ‘Guernica’ essay on Israel and Palestine, its baffling retraction, and her plans to write a new essay about the experience.” From Michael Tomasky/The New Republic. (Cross-posted on My Machberet.)
  • And speaking of My Machberet: As usual, you’ll find a fresh set of Jewish Literary Links posted over there, too.

Quick reminder that the April issue of the The Practicing Writer 2.0 will go out to subscribers this weekend. (Never too late to subscribe!) And be sure you haven’t missed any of the still-open opportunities that you’ll find in the March edition (and in recent weekly supplements).