Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Over on The New Yorker‘s website, Jonathan Safran Foer discusses “Maybe It Was the Distance,” a piece—drawn from his forthcoming novel—that appears in the magazine’s current, fiction-focused issue.
  • On Christi Craig’s blog: a terrific new Q&A with Jessamyn Hope (plus an opportunity to win a giveaway copy of Safekeeping, Hope’s debut novel).
  • Mazal tov to Israeli author Etgar Keret on being named the latest recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize.
  • Aleph Beta is looking for a Writer and Editor of Torah Content. “This is a full time job located in Hewlett, NY with the possibility of telecommuting.”
  • And just in time for #Shavuot: a suite of poems on Tablet (and one more on the Forward‘s Sisterhood blog).
  • Shabbat Shalom and Shavuot Tov!

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • “I’m writing in a tradition of, frankly, mostly Jewish writers.” So says Jesse Eisenberg in a Tablet interview (with Tal Kra-Oz) occasioned by Eisenberg’s new story collection Bream Gives Me Hiccups.
  • Jewish Currents is seeking an Associate Editor. (I asked the editor about location; his reply: “I live and work in the Mid-Hudson Valley [New York], but it’s not required for someone to be in my neighborhood.”
  • J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, is hiring a Managing Editor. (This ad is a few weeks old already, but I just learned about it this week.)
  • An interesting post on the Fig Tree Books blog this week (if I say so myself!) on the topic of “rabbinic fiction.”
  • ICYMI: You still have time to win a copy of my story collection Quiet Americans.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

    This week, just a few quick things:

  • It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Jessica Piazza’s Poetry Has Value project. How much of a fan am I? Well, I’m going to be blogging for the project for the rest of the year. Take a look at my introductory post–and please follow along!
  • Remember that Quiet Americans anniversary giveaway that I mentioned last week? The giveaway went live on Sunday. Here’s the link, if you want to enter.
  • And a dispatch from the day job: I enjoyed writing this post for the Fig Tree Books blog, about “rabbinic fiction.”
  • Hope that everyone’s week is going well!

    Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

    #YeahYouWrite

    Spoiler alert: We have no dearth of reading series here in New York City. But there’s a fairly new one that I had the good fortune to discover last week.

    And I’ll be returning.#YeahYouWrite

    I found out about #YeahYouWrite when the amazing Sara Lippmann, whom I’m lucky enough to call a good friend, let me and a few other people know that she’d been invited to participate. I would have gone to support Sara in any case (even if she hadn’t generously offered to feed her fans). But the fact that Jacob Appel was on the roster to read the same evening was a definite plus: I’ve admired Jacob’s work for years but had never had the chance to meet him. (Unfortunately, the third featured reader, E.J. Levy, turned out to be unable to be there.)

    Sara read, and Jacob read (and, to my delighted surprise, gave me one of his books in addition to the one that I bought on site), and the excellent event curator led a terrific Q&A session. Throughout, there were delicious drinks (including the specialty cocktails described to the right) and yummy food.

    And then, the evening segued into an open mic session during which audience members read from their work. (We were told that the first reader was an MFA student who was appearing in order to earn class credit! An interesting idea for all of you instructors out there, yes? If you have reading series nearby?) I read two (as yet unpublished) poems.

    And I was photographed! (more…)