Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety. This week, many folks are already offline for the conclusion of Passover; I’m forging on nonetheless.
Deadline approaching (6pm, Pacific time, this evening) for Poetry Super Highway’s 18th annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) issue.
If you have the good luck to be in the environs of the Yiddish Book Center on Sunday, you can enjoy their Community Open House, which will feature “Is There Such a Thing as Jewish Literature?”—an address by Adam Kirsch.
“In ‘Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story’ Mr. [Matti] Friedman has written a top-notch account of [the First Lebanon War], persuasively arguing that it heralded a new style of combat in the Middle East, though no one knew it at the time.” A terrific review for a book I’m hoping to read very, very soon.”
“LETTERS TO SALA, Arlene Hutton’s stirring drama about a New York family coming to grips with the sudden disclosure of its matriarch’s hidden Holocaust past will have two concert performances on May 15 at 12 P.M. and 3:30 P.M. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.” I’ve seen the play, and I recommend it, highly.
Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.
On my tbr list: The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi (trans. Anthony Berris)–audio excerpt available via Israel in Translation.
Now available: video from an event that I attended a couple of weeks ago at the CUNY Graduate Center, “an evening of powerful readings [that] features new works by writers, artists, and thinkers who never lived through the Holocaust but who ‘inherited’ its trauma. For these ‘children of the Holocaust,’ whose relatives escaped from or died in the Shoah, it is relived, reimagined, and passed on across time. Reflecting on this haunting legacy, the participants include: Leon Botstein, Roger Cohen, Jeremy Eichler, Ruth Franklin, David Greilsammer, Marianne Hirsch, Daniel Mendelsohn, George Prochnik, Jonathan Rosen, Göran Rosenberg, and Sarah Wildman.”
The Baruch College Jewish Studies Center’s Sixth Annual Conference is slated for next Tuesday. Titled “Dissent and Dissension: Approaching Ultra-Orthodoxy,” it will include an author panel featuring Judy Brown, Shulem Deen, and Leah Vincent; Nathan Englander will deliver a keynote address. More info here (scroll down the page).
“That Episode Where Mary Tyler Moore Defended the Jews”–I didn’t remember the episode (then again, it aired for the first time when I was just three years old). But thanks to Jewniverse, I spent some time watching it this week.
“The Anolic Family Awards are now accepting applications for the 2016 cycle. This year there are three awards for artists in different career stages.” Includes one award for Jewish book arts.
The week also brought the launch of an Israel-focused website that I’m proud to have helped create. (“My” content areas: “Arts & Culture” and “Getting Involved.” Which seems appropriate, yes?)
On the Lilith blog: Yona Zeldis McDonough interviews Rebecca Kanner, whose latest novel offers a retelling of the story of the biblical Esther.
A highly informative and interesting review by Josh Lambert of Leah Garrett’s Young Lions: How Jewish Authors Reinvented the American War Novel (also via the Forward).
And I’m pretty pleased with this post I wrote for the Fig Tree Books blog celebrating the work of American Jewish women writers (and women reviewers) for Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.