A List of Lists: 2011’s Notable Jewish Books

by Erika Dreifus on
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Now that we are safely ensconced in 2012, I can offer you a “meta” post that collects in a single location links to a number of features on the year-that-was-2011 in Jewish books. As always, I’m a little overwhelmed by how many wonderful titles are out there waiting to be read (more hours in the day, please!). This year, I’m deeply honored that my own short-story collection, Quiet Americans, has earned some generous mentions, too.

So here are my findings: (more…)

Friday Find: Free Photos for Your Blog

by Erika Dreifus on
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When I began reading this recent post on Robert Lee Brewer’s “My Name Is Not Bob” blog, I thought I was reading my own words: “I’m often slow about adopting new things. As such, I realize many bloggers already employ images in their blog posts on a regular basis.” But then Robert continued: “In fact, I even started using them more regularly in the final months of 2011 (and my traffic increased).”

Um. Well. Yes, I’ve known for awhile that I should include more photos on my blog posts. But I just haven’t been very good about doing so.

Robert’s post provided another needed push. If you’re interested in adding some imagistic life to your blog, I recommend that you read it, too. (See also the useful comments section.)

I’ve also been  encouraged–if only slightly overwhelmed–by an excellent resource that was kindly recommended to me via Twitter. My thanks to @franmerlie for sending me to “15 Best Places for Designers to Get Free Stock Photos Online.” That, my friends, is the chief Friday Find of this post.

Enjoy the weekend, and I’ll look forward to seeing you back here on Monday.

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

  • From Women in Judaism: “We are delighted to announce the electronic publication of two new issues of Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal. The journal can be accessed at www.womeninjudaism.org. Click on the following links to access the new issues: Vol. 8:1 http://tinyurl.com/7plstwa; Vol. 8:2 http://tinyurl.com/lgo2br.”
  • Lisa Katz goes “Beyond Amichai” in her take on contemporary Israeli poetry.
  • Discovered this extraordinary photo-essay-exhibit by Beth Burstein thanks to the lively discussion unfolding in a Generations of the Shoah (GSI) Facebook discussion group. As curator Sura Levine describes it, this work “explores[s] Burstein’s dual identity as an American born well after World War II and as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Intimate and public, these images function at the margins of both the documentary and fine art.”
  • Mazel tov to the National Jewish Book Awards’ latest winners and finalists.
  • Coming up February 16 in NYC: “Soviet-Jewish Experience in NYC, 1972-2000, In Fact and Fiction.” Featuring Anya Ulinich, Lina Zeldovich, Mikhail Iossel, Emily Rubin, and Anneliese Orleck. Tickets are $10 ($8 for Members of the CUNY Graduate Center).
  • Attention, book bloggers! “The Sydney Taylor Book Award committee is preparing to announce the best Jewish kidlit published in the past year. Winners will be revealed in mid-January, and there will be a blog tour for medal-winning authors/illustrators in February! If you’re interested in interviewing a winner and hosting a stop on the blog tour, please let us know! If you’d like to participate, please email Barbara Krasner(at)barbarakrasner(dot)att(dot)net and CC Heidi Estrin at Heidi(at)cbiboca(dot)org.”
  • Yesterday’s main feature on Jewish Ideas Daily was a piece titled “Among the Literati.” Its author: yours truly.

    • Shabbat shalom!
    (Photo by Reut Miryam Cohen.)

    Thursday’s Work-in-Progress: Musings on and Resources for Micro-Essays

    by Erika Dreifus on
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    If you follow me on Twitter, you may have caught my delighted announcement last Saturday about a just-accepted essay. In fact, last week was pretty remarkable, because I received two essay acceptances. But the Saturday acceptance was notable for a couple of reasons.

    First, that acceptance came after the same piece (or some iterations of it) had been rejected several times. Nowhere near as many rejections as some of my short stories have suffered on their way to publication–but still, finding this piece a home was by no means a super-smooth (or super-swift) process. By the time this essay is published, nearly one year will have elapsed since I began sending it out.

    Second, the accepted piece exemplifies something that seems increasingly integral to my writing practice: the micro-essay (also known as flash nonfiction). I have two other new micro-essays circulating right now (yes, one of them developed from the poetry exercise I mentioned not long ago). If you add up the word counts of the three pieces–the one that was just accepted and the two newer ones–you don’t even reach 1500 words.

    I’m only beginning to understand how and why this focus is developing for me. Which is why I was thrilled to discover “Focusing on Flash Nonfiction: An Interview with Dinty W. Moore” on the River Teeth blog this week. Among Moore’s many hats is the editorship of Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction.

    In addition to sharing his expert take on crafting flash nonfiction, Moore recommends some journals that feature this type of writing. Which reminded me of two other places where one may find potential homes for micro-essays: Pamelyn Casto’s newsletter and The Review Review‘s flash fiction resource list (also useful for flash nonfiction).

    I suspect that I’ll be continuing to look for nice homes for flash nonfiction (not to mention additional places to read good examples of it), so if you have other suggestions–either for resource lists or specific venues–please share! Maybe we can come up with the “Ultimate List of Magazines & Journals That Publish Flash Nonfiction & Micro-Essays.”

    QUIET AMERICANS: A Jewish Journal Notable Book of 2011

    by Erika Dreifus on
    6

    The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles–the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City–has named Quiet Americans a “notable book of 2011.” To say that I am honored is an extreme understatement. I am frankly overwhelmed to find my book in the company of the other “notable” works by Gershom Gorenberg, Hirsh Goodman, James Carroll, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Art Spiegelman, Joseph Braude, Michael Levy, and Deborah E. Lipstadt.

    In explaining the choice of Quiet Americans, Books Editor Jonathan Kirsch writes:

    History, as James Joyce once wrote, is a nightmare from which we struggle to awaken. But literary journalist Erika Dreifus is courageous enough to confront the terrors from deep within that nightmare in her debut work of fiction, “Quiet Americans” (Last Light Studio: $13.95), a deeply affecting collection of short stories that contemplate how the long shadow of the Holocaust falls across the lives of men and women who come alive in her work. She works in a lapidary prose, every word considered and chosen with care, and yet the writing is always clear and compelling. But Dreifus does not confine herself to the kind of character studies and slice-of-life sketches that are the stock-in-trade of so many short-story writers. Rather, she cares deeply about history — her own family history and the larger history that we all inhabit — and that’s what makes her stories both engaging and consequential.

    In addition to the notable books article, The Jewish Journal has also announced the winner of the first Jewish Journal Book Prize: Nancy K. Miller’s What They Saved: Pieces of a Jewish Past. Read more about that book–and The Jewish Journal‘s literary coverage, right here.