“Writing Jewish Worlds”: NYC Event on Friday, November 18

by Erika Dreifus on
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If I weren’t traveling to New Jersey on November 18 for an author event of my own, I’d do my very best to get over to the Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York. What promises to be a fascinating program will begin at 4 p.m.: “Writing Jewish Worlds.”

“Join authors Mikhal Dekel (English, City College), Marianne Hirsch (English and Comparative Literature, Columbia), Nancy K. Miller (Comparative Literature, English and French, CUNY Graduate Center), Lara Vapnyar (Comparative Literature, CUNY Graduate Center), and Wayne Koestenbaum (English, CUNY Graduate Center) as they discuss the genesis of their recent books, the rewards and impasses of writing about Jewish subjects, and the tensions between the personal and historical motivations of their work— whether in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, literary criticism or history.”

The program is free, but it seems as though they’d like reservations. Click here for more info. And if you go, please report back! I’d love to hear all about it.

Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • New opportunity: “The John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence [Program] at Thurber House is dedicated, by his wife, Sally Crane, to the memory of the late photojournalist and author who was a critically acclaimed Associated Press photographer and journalist. AP Bureau Chief in the Philippines, Nance wrote The Gentle Tasaday about a primitive tribe in the Philippines as well as Lobo of the Tasaday, a Horn Book Award Honor Book. Nance was a Thurber House writer-in-residence twice, in 1995 and 1998. An annual residency of four weeks, the Writer-in-Residence program is designed to provide a writer with the gift of time to develop his/her work-in-progress. The residency is a two-bedroom apartment in the boyhood home of author and New Yorker cartoonist, James Thurber. Each year the residency will focus on a specific genre, the first for 2012 being nonfiction in honor of Nance’s field.” Open to U.S. citizens, 18 years of age or older, who have had a book published by a traditional publisher in the past three years or have a work under contract. Residency will take place in September-October 2012 and will offer a stipend of $4,000. Application deadline: March 15, 2012. No application fee.
  • From Ladies’ Home Journal: “For the first-ever LHJ Personal Essay Contest, we’re looking for first-person narratives of personal growth — a term you can interpret as broadly as you like. Whether you choose to write about a life lesson you learned the hard way or a challenge you managed (or perhaps failed) to meet, no topic is off-limits. And you could win $3,000 and have your essay published in LHJ.” Deadline: December 13, 2011. No entry fee indicated, BUT take note of these lines in the fine print: “By entering and/or providing the required registration information, you acknowledge that Sponsor may send you information, samples, or special offers it believes may be of interest to you about its publications or other complementary goods offered by Sponsor. Sponsor may also include your name and postal address in postal address lists that Sponsor sells or rents to third parties for marketing purposes….IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SHARE YOUR INFORMATION, PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THIS PROMOTION.” (original emphasis)
  • Opportunity for emerging poets in the five boroughs of New York City: Four Way Books invites you to “consider submitting your first or second poetry collection to us through our new ‘It’s No Contest’ Program. We will read your manuscript with a mind to selecting it for publication until December 15, 2011. FWB editors hope to find one or more manuscripts to publish between fall 2012-2013.” No fee.
  • “Creative writers whose work in any genre reflects a keen awareness of the natural world and an appreciation for both scientific and literary ways of knowing are invited to apply for one-week residencies at the H.J.Andrews Experimental Forest [Ore.]. The mission of the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program is to bring together writers, humanists and scientists to create a living, growing record of how we understand the forest and the relation of people to the forest, as that understanding and that forest both change over time.” No application fee. Deadline: December 1, 2011 (received).
  • The University of Missouri seeks an Editor, Internal Communications; the Writers Guild of American, West (Los Angeles), is looking for a Senior Writer/Editor, and the Associated Press (New York) invites applications for a Social Media Editor.
  • From Nanyang Technological University (Singapore): “The Division of English at NTU seeks to fill a tenure-track position in Creative Writing at the Assistant Professor level. Fiction, creative non-fiction, play-writing and screen-writing are areas of particular current interest. The Division of English at NTU is an academic department in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, which offers the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in literary studies. Students can minor in creative writing, and creative writing options are also available at postgraduate level.”

    • Friday Find: Journals & Notepads

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    My good friend (and fellow practicing writer) Deonne Kahler has launched a new business at www.JournalsAndNotepads.com. In Deonne’s words, this is a site where she sells “fun, quirky, retro, snarky, and beautiful journals, notepads, blank books, planners, and sticky notes – all reasonably priced.” So if you’re looking for any of those items–and who among our crowd isn’t–please consider going over to the site and taking a look. Thank you! (No, I’m won’t receive any commissions.)

    Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend. I look forward to seeing you back here on Monday. And last–but definitely not least–to all the veterans out there: Thank you for your service!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Beautiful essay by Thomas Israel Hopkins on Tablet, on grieving, Jewishly, for a non-Jewish parent.
  • Anna Solomon’s Little Bride continues to attract lots of attention. See Judy Bolton-Fasman’s post for The Forward‘s Sisterhood blog for some especially interesting thoughts.
  • Kevin Haworth revisits “The Catskills” for Defunct, “a literary repository for the ages.”
  • Poet and professor Rick Chess reflects on Amichai, Asheville, and more.
  • Last call! Come join us on Sunday afternoon to talk about “Looking Backward: History, the Holocaust, and Literary Writing in the Third Generation.”

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Thursday’s Work-in-Progress

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Right now, most of my writing time is going toward the drafting and revising of a talk I’ll be delivering next week at my home congregation in New Jersey. The presentation’s title is “Why Is This Jewish-American Writer Different from (Some) Other Jewish-american Writers?” I’m trying to articulate some things that I’ve been thinking about for a very long time. And it isn’t easy.

    I spent a lot of time last weekend toiling on this talk, and I’ve spent many hours outside my 9-5 workdays this week working on it, as well. I am beginning to see some light at the end of this particular tunnel.

    The light began to shine when I realized that if and when I turn this talk into an essay, I’ll be able to revise, cut, and expand, as appropriate. It may sound silly, but this realization somehow lifted a heavy burden.