Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
7

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Just in time for Rosh Hashanah: a new issue from JewishFiction.net.
  • Etgar Keret recalls writing his first short story.
  • Tent: “immersive, intense, free, week-long workshops for anyone, ages 21 to 30, who’s curious about the connections between Jewishness and modern culture.” Offerings include workshops in creative writing and journalism.
  • “Starting in September, Lizzie Skurnick Books, an imprint of Ig Publishing, will begin rereleasing the classic Y.A. literature that Skurnick has already made a career of celebrating.” Including the All-of-a-Kind Family series.
  • And finally, an essay by yours truly, “Childless Does Not Mean Clueless,” on The Forward’s “The Sisterhood” blog.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Wednesday’s WIP: All Together Now, Or A Completed Essay Sequence

    by Erika Dreifus on
    4

    SU13_coverLast week brought the release of my essay “Lucky Day” in Proto magazine, which is published by Massachusetts General Hospital. The essay is part of the magazine’s “First Person” series, which “originates at the other end of the stethoscope, presenting essays and commentary from patients, consumers and other medical outsiders.”

    “Lucky Day” is the fourth essay to be published in what I call my “Sunday in the City” sequence. I’ve mentioned this sequence before. Now, and with thanks to all of the editors who have made this possible, I’d like to present the essays in chronological order–not chronological in terms of either their composition or their publication dates–but rather chronologically insofar as the reader encounters them in a linear way, moving directly forward through the events described:

  • “Sunday in the City,” carte blanche, Fall 2012
  • “Lucky Day,” Proto, Summer 2013
  • “Before Sunrise,” Brevity, March 2013
  • “At the Station House,” Contrary, Summer 2013

    • Yes, there’s one more essay idea that I’ve toyed with that might belong here. But for now, at any rate, I think that the series is complete. Perhaps you will agree.

    P.S. At long last, I’ve attempted to (re)organize my website’s nonfiction writing page. Thoughts or suggestions?

    Monday Markets for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Monday brings the weekly batch of no-fee competitions/contests, paying submission calls, and jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction).

  • “Crab Orchard Review is seeking work for our Summer/Fall 2014 issue focusing on writing exploring the people, places, history, and changes shaping these U.S. States, Commonwealths, and Territories: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawai’i, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, and other areas which have been a part of the United States beyond the Lower 48 States (excepting those States listed here). All submissions should be original, unpublished poetry, fiction, or literary nonfiction in English. Please inquire before submitting any translations….The submission period by postal mail for this issue is August 15 through October 1, 2013. (There will be later dates for online submissions to our Special Issue Feature Awards. All submissions for the Special Issue Feature Awards are also considered for publication in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue). We will be reading submissions throughout and hope to complete the editorial work on the issue by the end of February 2014. Writers whose work is selected will receive $25 (US) per magazine page ($50 minimum for poetry; $100 minimum for prose) and two copies of the issue.”
  • Call for submissions for a Seal Press anthology: Stepping Up: Stories of Blended Families. “More than half the families in America are living in step. Some work beautifully, but more than sixty percent are torn with conflict and will end in dissolution. Parents and children currently living in stepfamilies, or coming from them and making their own way as adults, have stories that will entertain, inform, perhaps trouble but ultimately inspire us. We are looking for those stories. We seek a diversity of voices and welcome submissions from a variety of family situations. We value honesty, clarity, specificity, ‘showing not telling,’ tight writing, and the sharing of insights.” Query first. Deadline: February 1, 2014. Pays: $100 plus two copies of the published book. (h/t Judy Bolton-Fasman)
  • The September issue of The Practicing Writer will go out to subscribers next weekend. It will have LOTS of news re: submission opportunities for the fall season and competitions with upcoming deadlines. All are paying opportunities that don’t charge entry/application fees. If you aren’t already a subscriber, sign up and get your issue right in your e-mailbox.

    • (more…)

    Sunday Sentence

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Another Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”
    Golden-Retriever“This is what dogs teach us: to love and to risk losing and to love again. I’ve met people who never want another dog after losing their first one, and I’m sympathetic. But what if after our first heartbreak we gave up on love? What if after the first fight with a lover we shielded ourselves? We would be protected, yes, but we’d also be done living.”

    Tatjana Soli, “Picking Up the Scent of Bliss”

    Recent Viewing: “The Law in These Parts”

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    As I’ve written: “I know Israel isn’t perfect. I will listen to criticisms arising from a sincere concern for Israel’s health and security.” There are serious criticisms embedded within THE LAW IN THESE PARTS, a documentary from Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz that’s available for online viewing until September 18. And I’m not at all sorry to have watched it.

    I learned a lot from this documentary, described as “a tour-de-force examination of the system of military administration used by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 — featuring the system’s leading creators.” It made me think and question (and agonize), and it may do the same for you. (It also made me look for other viewers’ reactions: this piece from Jewish Ideas Daily provides some cautionary notes.)

    In the end, what the film has done is this: It has made me pray even more fervently for an especially swift, secure, and somehow satisfactory resolution to the West Bank part of the ongoing negotiations. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

    If you watch the film, let me know your reaction.