This upcoming (April 17) free session at the New York Public Library may assist your research: “This lecture will describe the wealth of resources available at institutions throughout the New York area for doing Jewish family history research. The talk will be geared to beginners and intermediate researchers, and will focus on those families whose ancestors who came to the U.S. starting with the great migration which began in the late 1880s.”
Historian Sarah Maza takes a closer look at Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise: “Némirovsky’s vivid fiction-in-real-time – not to mention the author’s life story – has a great deal to offer to undergraduates studying the period, although some caveats apply.”
“The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is calling artists to submit works inspired by the deeds of Raoul Wallenberg and their legacy. Selected works will be published in an e-book compilation created in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg’s birthday. This call is open for artists working within the fields of creative writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and mixed media. The application deadline is Monday, May 16, 2012.” No application fee; payment info not indicated.
Inspired by Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Rabbi Karen Perolman shares some initial titles that she considers to be “great Jewish books.”
Adding this to my TBR list: Shani Boianjiu’s The People of Forever Are Not Afraid. According to Shelf Awareness, the novel “follows three teenage friends from the same Israeli village as they’re conscripted into the army, an experience that alters their lives in irrevocable and unpredictable ways.” The book will be out in September.
Leah Vincent explains why she is shopping around her “ex-frum” memoir.
On The Whole Megillah, Barbara Krasner interviews poet Elana Bell. (Krasner encountered Bell at a recent conference, where Bell was part of a panel titled “Not Your Bubbe’s Poetry.”)
I tried to stay open-minded reading this article. Until I got to the totally un-qualified use of the word “Nakba.”
From Daniel E. Levenson, editor of New Vilna Review: “The New Vilna Review has been going through some changes the past few months, and our focus has shifted to offering an expanded selection of poetry, fiction and arts writing. We are once again accepting submissions, and look forward to continuing to publish some of the most interesting and thought provoking work in the world of Jewish arts and letters.”
“The timing of my new mustache — 10 days after my wife miscarried, a week after I injured my back in a car crash and two weeks after my father found out he had inoperable cancer — couldn’t have been better. Instead of talking about Dad’s chemo or my wife’s blood transfusion, I could divert all small talk to the thick tuft of facial hair growing above my upper lip. And whenever anyone asked me, ‘What’s with the mustache?’ I had the perfect answer, and it was even mostly true: ‘It’s for the boy.'” From an essay by Israeli author Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen, in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.
One of my most memorable reads from last year, Johanna Adorján’s An Exclusive Love: A Memoir (trans. Anthea Bell) is now available in paperback. Check out my review for The Jewish Journal, which includes a recent Q&A with the author.
This week, one of the little ones in Auntie Erika’s life turned 8, and as per usual, he received a birthday gift of a book. I sent him Richard Michelson’s Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King, which was recently named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Young Readers. Check out this interview with Mr. Michaelson (part of the latest blog tour featuring Sydney Taylor Award titles).
The above-mentioned interview pointed me to Richard Michaelson’s website, where I discovered this essay Michaelson published some years back, on writing outside one’s own racial/cultural experience.
Win a copy of Joan Leegant’s wonderful novel, Wherever You Go.
Chas Newkey-Burden (“OyVaGoy”), presents a list of recommended books about Israel.
Terrific essay by Sara Ivry for Tablet on a Judy Blume classic, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself.
The Jewish Book Council has announced the winner and runner-up for this year’s Sami Rohr Prize: “This year’s prize is for non-fiction and is awarded to journalist Gal Beckerman. His book, When They Come for Us We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), is a comprehensive and enthralling chronicle of the history of the Soviet Jewry movement. The judges believe Beckerman’s work shows ‘his clear commitment to becoming a storyteller for the Jewish people.’ This is Beckerman’s first book. The runner-up is Oxford lecturer Abigail Green, for her biography, Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero (Belknap Press of Harvard University). She receives a $25,000 prize.”
Sample excerpts (translated by Jessica Cohen) from Israeli author Alex Epstein’s forthcoming collection, For My Next Illusion I Will Use Wings.
You’ll find a (somewhat overwhelming) list of intriguing new titles in Jewish fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in The Jewish Week‘s spring arts preview.
And as London’s Jewish Book Week celebrates its 60th anniversary, it attempts to list 60 great Jewish books of the past six decades.
Zeek has published the winning poems from the latest Anna Davidson Rosenberg Prize for Poetry on the Jewish Experience. On her blog, first-prize winner Jehanne Dubrow explains: “One of the really nice things about this award is that it includes both a monetary award AND publication. Of course, I should add that any prize also serves as encouragement, a little push to keep the writer writing. These prose poems come from my manuscript-in-progress, The Arranged Marriage, which has certainly received plenty of little pushes lately. I will keep writing.”
The latest winner of Israel’s Sapir Prize for Literature is Haggai Linik.
On the Image journal blog, Rick Chess offers a beautiful and personal meditation inspired by Jacob and Esau.
Delighted to discover this interview with Joan Leegant on the Fiction Writers Review website.
Presenting the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Awards’ winning, honor, and notable titles. (“The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Pasadena, California this June.”)
