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Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • I was lucky enough to attend the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature awards ceremony last week, so I heard Deborah Lipstadt’s speech when it was delivered. But thanks to the Jewish Book Council, you can now read the text of Lipdstadt’s remarks, too.
  • A.B. Yehoshua praises Haifa and reminds me that I want to spend more time there.
  • Novelist Emily Barton writes about The Jazz Singer.
  • The Boston Bibliophile reviews and recommends The Last Brother, a novel by Nathacha Appanah (trans. Geoffrey Strachan). My own review was filed a couple of weeks ago; when it’s published, you’ll see that I’m 100 percent in agreement.
  • From the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center: ideas for social-justice book clubs.
  • Hurry up and read David Bezmozgis’s novel, The Free World, before next week’s Twitter Book Club session for it.
  • You may have heard that Edith Pearlman is the latest recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for short fiction. I’ve admired Pearlman’s work for a long time–I’m eager to read her newest book, Binocular Vision–and I was thrilled to see my own book discussed alongside hers (and Laura Furman’s) in this review by Rabbi Rachel Esserman.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Ann Goldberg shares lessons learned at the Jerusalem Writers’ Seminar.
  • Carlin Romano reviews a new essay collection focused on Primo Levi and concludes: “Primo Levi was not just a Holocaust survivor or ‘great Holocaust author.’ He was a humanist who insisted on justice—one whose incisive voice against those who murder the innocent still speaks to all lands, and all cultures.”
  • A hearty Mazel Tov to Gary Shteyngart, the first American to win the Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction for his novel, Super Sad True Love Story. Named for the British humorist, the prize isn’t exactly kosher, though–it confers, among other items, a pig named in Shteyngart’s honor.
  • The Whole Megillah’s series on using social media to promote Jewish children’s books continues.
  • Finally, just in case you missed my musings on the Jewish Book NETWORK/Meet the Author programs, you’ll find my list of tbr discoveries here and an account of my Sunday evening here.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • “The Schusterman Visiting Artist Program has announced the names of 10 leading Israeli artists it will place in residencies at colleges and universities across the U.S. this fall and next spring.” (via eJewish Philanthropy)
  • Mazel Tov to Philip Roth, who has won the Man Booker International Prize 2011. (Roth also appeared at YIVO/the Center for Jewish History this week. Tablet has a good recap.)
  • I didn’t even try to make it to the Roth event, because I had other plans: I had the chance to speak via phone with a synagogue book group about my story collection, Quiet Americans. It was a wonderful chat! (And if your group would like me to “visit” telephonically, please read this.)
  • As Short Story Month continues, I’ve written about Margot Singer’s story, “Body Count,” and why it is a story I love.
  • Find out how to use social media to promote your Jewish children’s book: Part I is already online and I expect that Part II will be added shortly.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Translation Grants Available from the Yiddish Book Center

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    This just in from the Yiddish Book Center:

    The Yiddish Book Center will award two grants of $1,000 each for the translation into English of a Yiddish text, from any genre. According to Aaron Lansky, president and founder of the Yiddish Book Center, “less than 2% of Yiddish titles have been translated into English. Most of Yiddish literature is still inaccessible to English readers. The only answer is to train and mobilize a new generation of translators.”

    The grant offering is part of a larger translation program at the Yiddish Book Center, including a translation conference, workshops, and plans for new web-based resources.

    Application deadline is June 1. To learn more and apply:
    http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/translation-grant-program

    (I’m looking forward to hearing more about the “larger translation program”!)

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • It’s still April, which means that it’s still National Poetry Month. To celebrate, The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog is featuring new poetry every weekday.
  • Also celebrating: Moment magazine, with a feature on “Ten Great Jewish Poets.”
  • Moment may have to add another poet to its list. This week, The Writer’s Almanac featured an absolutely stunning poem by Jacqueline Berger: “Why I’m Here.” Go read it.
  • In other news, Linda K. Wertheimer reports on an unusual writing workshop: at a mikveh.
  • New Jersey Jewish News interviews author Anita Diamant.
  • The shortlist for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize has been announced. (Hat tip: The Literary Saloon.)
  • Mark Shechner, Thane Rosenbaum, and Victoria Arons–judges for the Edward Lewis Wallant Prize–share their thoughts on “The New Jewish Literature.”
  • Don’t forget, it’s just a few days until the next meeting of the Jewish Book Council’s Twitter Book Club. Up on Tuesday (April 12): Quiet Americans! I really hope to see you there!

    • Meantime, Shabbat shalom!