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. 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.
  • And ICYMI, lots of #JewLit content in my latest “midweek notes” post on my other blog.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    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.

  • How I wish that I could attend the Tenth Memorial International Creative Writing Conference of the Shaindy Rudoff Creative Writing Graduate Program at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. It’s happening May 29-31.
  • This week brought new issues from both Lilith magazine and JewishFiction.net. So much good stuff tbr!
  • The week also brought publication of a poem of mine, “Black Sheep in the World to Come,” on Hevria.
  • And also freshly published: the latest newsletter from Fig Tree Books, edited by yours truly.
  • Finally, as we approach both Passover and, in a little while, Yom HaShoah, I’m grateful to my friend Suzanne Reisman for sharing this piece of hers.
  • Shabbat shalom, and have a meaningful Pesach.

    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.

  • 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.
  • Shabbat shalom.

    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.

  • It’s unlikely that you’ve ever read a Jewish wedding story quite like the one Judy Bolton-Fasman shares in this essay.
  • Discussed at a marvelous study session last Shabbat (led by Sivan Butler-Rotholz): Stacey Zisook Robinson’s stunning Purim poem, “The Book of Esther.”
  • This week brought the latest Jewish Book Carnival. Check out all the latest news, reviews, and interviews from the world of Jewish books.
  • And from the “subset” world that I inhabit at Fig Tree Books came a fresh newsletter.
  • 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?)
  • Shabbat shalom!

    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.

  • News about Orly Castel-Bloom’s Sapir Prize win in Israel (via Beth Kissileff and the Forward) brings similarly exciting news on the forthcoming-translation front. (Reminder: I am a fan of Castel-Bloom’s work.)
  • A spotlight on deserving short-story collections, via Howard Freedman/J weekly.
  • 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.
  • Shabbat shalom!