Erika Dreifus

Welcome to the second installment of our multi-part interview with Kelly Hartog, founding editor of Scribblers on the Roof, an online forum for Jewish fiction and poetry. To see the first post, please click here.

Erika Dreifus (ED): What do you hope readers will gain from Scribblers on the Roof?

Kelly Hartog (KH): I want my readers to know that there is some extraordinary work out there by talented, creative writers that can nourish their heart and soul. There’s been a lot of negativity regarding what is a “Jewish writer” and why people use that label? Scribblers doesn’t. There is simply so much rich material within the Jewish realm that people can tap into, so why not use it in your writing, especially if that’s where your source material comes from? That’s why our contributors don’t have to be Jewish. They just need to write with a Jewish theme or concept.

Also, many of our readers are also our writers. All writers love to see their work published, and in turn, most writers are truly supportive of their fellow scribblers. They know what it’s like to be in the trenches, and I want our writers to have the opportunity to share their work, have it seen by others and to inspire and be inspired by their fellow writers. It’s ultimately about creating a community. That’s why I make sure we have links to events, readings, contests, anything that is out there that will help our writers have their work published elsewhere in what is clearly a niche market, and that will allow readers access to other wonderful authors. We’re not about being insular. Scribblers is about connecting with others and promoting great Jewish-themed writing to everyone.

Come back soon for the next installment of our interview with Kelly Hartog!

I am thrilled to present the first installment of our promised interview with Kelly Hartog, founding editor of Scribblers on the Roof, an exciting new online forum for Jewish fiction and poetry.

Kelly Hartog was born in England, raised in Australia, moved to Israel and now lives in Los Angeles. She is the (self-described) quintessential wandering Jew. She has worked as a writer, editor and reporter for over 15 years and has freelanced for a variety of publications.

Erika Dreifus (ED): Why have you established Scribblers on the Roof, and why at this time?

Kelly Hartog (KH): I was going through a bunch of stories I had written and was sending them out to literary magazines, contests, etc. and discovered that I had several stories that were so intrinsically “Jewish” including ones with specific Hebrew terms, I realized they could not be published in anything but a Jewish publication. When I started looking for places to send them I realized that while there are some great places out there to submit your material that had fiction or poetry sections, there were none that were devoted exclusively to fiction and poetry with Jewish themes. And nowhere that allowed beginning writers to have a chance to showcase their work. So I thought, “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed….” Although I guess in this case it was more “If the mountain won’t come to Moses…”

As to why now? The reason I was writing so many stories again is because I had lost a great deal of steady journalism and editing work over the last few months because of the recession. I took that extra time I had while looking for additional work and focused again on my love of fiction. It’s difficult to juggle journalism and fiction. Sometimes you’re so drained from writing for work all day you don’t want to tap into your creative brain come nighttime. But now I had the time. And that’s when I stumbled across these old stories with Jewish themes and how I came up with the idea for Scribblers. I had time to build the site, and learned some valuable skills creating this by myself from scratch. A steep learning curve indeed, but I’m now a better techie than when I started out!

Intrigued? Please return to My Machberet throughout the week to hear more from Kelly Hartog about Scribbers on the Roof, including what Kelly hopes readers will gain from the site, her future plans for Scribblers on the Roof, her very interesting writing background, and her own favorite reads!