Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish news, primarily of the literary variety, from around the Web.

  • Yiddish Book Center Fellow Jordan Kutzik reports on a recent UNESCO symposium, “The Permanence of Yiddish,” in Paris.
  • Over on Jewish Ideas Daily, D.G. Myers reviews the year just past in Jewish books.
  • Clever review of Oy! Only Six? Why Not More? Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life (I’m a proud contributor).
  • Something unexpected happened when Vanessa Hidary (“the Hebrew Mamita”) asked a pop-up bookstore at Limmud to stock her memoir.
  • Last, but not least: first issue of Gandy Dancer, a new literary journal based at SUNY-Geneseo, features an interview with me about Quiet Americans.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Upcoming Events at the Center for Jewish History

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Just a quick note about some intriguing events at the Center for Jewish History here in New York:

  • Wednesday, January 30, 2013: Reading Holocaust Literature (panel discussion with David G. Roskies, Naomi Diamant, Samuel Kassow, and Ruth Franklin)
  • Thursday, February 7, 2013: Emerging Writers/Contemporary Literary Landscapes: Fiction (with Nadia Kalman, Austin Ratner, Francesca Segal, Adam Wilson, Josh Lambert, and Ruth Andrew Ellenson)
  • Sunday, February 10, 2013: Jews and Words: A Celebration of Jewish Writing, Language, and Expression (conference with multiple panels/speakers)

    • Check the CJH website for details and ticket info for all of these programs.

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: I Did It!

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

    listIf you’ve already seen the January issue of The Practicing Writer, you know that it features a superb guest article by Lisa Romeo. The article begins:

    It’s time for The I Did It List — my small act of defiance against all the emotionally upsetting lists we humans tend to mentally make as the year draws to a close: the one that ticks off the things we failed to do all year. We didn’t lose weight, clear out the basement, organize the photos, cook better meals, take that trip, call that old friend.

    As writers we do our own version of the miss list — we take ourselves to task about the books or chapters or essays not completed, the conference not attended, the acceptances not received, the work not submitted, the agent not contacted, the class not taken, the revision left undone. We tend to see our writing year as a finite lot of things not yet achieved instead of a valuable step along an infinitely curvy road.

    Give yourself a break. Please.

    Write your own writer’s version of The I Did It List.

    Lisa suggests that we consider all kinds of writerly accomplishments for the year just ended. She notes that this includes helping others with their writing goals. (more…)

    Wednesday’s WIP: Last Article of 2013 Looks Ahead to 2014

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    At this time of year, I’m confronted with the many books published in 2013 that I haven’t yet managed to read. It seems that every day another “best-of” list materializes to remind me of the recurrent truth: There’s just never enough time to get to all of the books that I’d like to read, not even if I limited myself to books of Jewish interest, or to novels and short-story collections. And yet, as we approach the new year, publishers’ 2014 catalogs promise a new array of tempting titles. Here are just five of the notable “Jewish books” that I’m already anticipating.

    Read the rest of my last article to be published in 2013–“5 Jewish Books to Read in 2014”–over on The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog.
    artysemite-header2

    Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities 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. (Even during the holidays, when the listings can be a little thin!)

  • The 6th Annual James Nicholson Political Poetry Prize, administered by the Town of Pelham Public Library, is open to residents of Westchester County, N.Y., 18 years of age or older. There will be a $500 prize for the winner. (Make sure that your library account is in good standing, since “awards will not be given to anyone with outstanding fines or fees.”) There are also categories open to middle-school and high-school students. All winners “must be available” for a reading and reception currently scheduled for Thursday, April 11, 2013, and the winning poems will be published in the Pelham Weekly. Deadline: February 18, 2013.
  • The state of Colorado’s Creative Industries Division offers Jumpstart Awards to “provide fresh energy to artists and creative entrepreneurs to help stimulate their creative business or organization, whether nonprofit or commercial. Our goal is to help grantees increase their revenue, gain new audiences, and improve management practices.” You must be a Colorado resident to apply. No fee indicated. “The maximum request is $1,000 and funds are paid on a reimbursement basis upon receipt of final report and expense receipts.” Next deadline is January 15, 2013.
  • “The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW) requests proposals for an E-Writer in Residence. The E-Writer in Residence, who may be located anywhere in Canada, will provide manuscript critiques and workshops, delivered primarily by communications technology, to writers located in Northwestern Ontario cities, towns and isolated communities (including First Nations communities). NOWW will give priority to applicants who are poets (defined as having at least one professionally published book of poetry for which the poet has a publishing contract and receives royalties). NOWW welcomes applications from First Nations and Métis writers.” No application fee. Deadline: January 13, 2013.
  • And you’ll find LOTS of no-fee contests and paying calls in the new (January 2013) issue of The Practicing Writer. Consider it my New Year’s present to all of you. Happy New Year!