Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

  • I love this piece by Erica Lyons. May it be a call to action for programs and those who run them–including programs for Jewish journalism–to recognize the potential contributions of those of us Jews who–horrors!–have passed our fortieth birthdays.
  • How did one collection of Jewish-focused fiction get its title? Read all about it.
  • What I’m reading right now: an advance copy of The Little Bride, by Anna Solomon.
  • Ken Schoen, proprietor of Schoen Books, chronicles a return to his family’s homeland.
  • Thirty-five years after Entebbe, Yonatan Netanyahu is remembered as a Harvard student. Which makes this Harvard alum especially moved, proud, and astonished that she wasn’t aware of this particular history.
  • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

  • Through November 30: “The Jewish Writer: Portraits by Jill Krementz.” Exhibition at the Center for Jewish History in NYC.
  • Next week (also in NYC): The Greatest Yiddish Literature Party Ever.
  • Professor Gil Troy, on the new genre of  “Zionist captivity narratives.” (via JTA)
  • Mazel tov to the newest winners of the Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.
  • I dare you to watch this prize-winning, (very) short film without being moved.
  • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

  • Thanks for the Center for Jewish History for posting a video of its May 18 “Evening with Philip Roth.”
  • On Wednesday, the Jewish Book Council’s Twitter Book Club convened to discuss David Bezmozgis’s novel, The Free World. Here’s the transcript.
  • Meantime, the JBC has announced the title for its next Twitter Book Club: Deborah Lipstadt’s The Eichmann Trial.
  • I was deeply saddened to read of the death of Zev Birger, a man described by The New York Times as “an official in the young state of Israel who later revived and then led the Jerusalem International Book Fair, turning it into a major event on the literary calendar,” from injuries he sustained when struck by a motorcycle. Mr. Birger, 85, was a Holocaust survivor.
  • David Kaufmann introduces us to Robert Pinsky’s Selected Poems.
  • The Forward presents its new website.
  • Hoping to spend some quality time this weekend with all of the wonderful links in this month’s Jewish Book Carnival.
  • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

  • 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

  • Josh Lambert examines “why a growing number of today’s young Jewish fiction writers…are grounding their novels in scholarly research.”
  • Author Hans Keilson has passed away.
  • “You are Jewish. Or you aren’t Jewish. Either way, you wonder about the relationship of Jews in the United States to Israel. Is it love/hate? Despair/hope? Anger/fondness? Fear/longing? You have your own thoughts on the matter. But you want to learn more.” (Reason #15 in Becky Tuch’s “21 Reasons Why You Should Read Dissent.”)
  • Check out The Forward‘s Summer Books section.
  • It’s been a busy week for my short-story collection, Quiet Americans.
  • Jeffrey Goldberg responds to a Scottish boycott of Israeli books.
  • Shabbat shalom!